


The Child of the Machine

by ZizZazZuz



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Bad Jokes, But yeah that makes some stuff a wee bit more brutal so take that as you will, Female Frisk, Gen, Of varying degrees depending on the situation and character, Oh also magic does some physical damage now, Sadness, They're pretty pathetic tbh, You Have Been Warned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-09 13:54:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10413675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZizZazZuz/pseuds/ZizZazZuz
Summary: Frisk has always lived her life according to someone else's wishes. Now she has to choose for herself.





	1. Be Killed

The cave was silent. There was no wind to stir the blades of grass that covered the ground, and no creatures rustled through the beautiful bed of golden flowers. A cluster of weathered pillars rose as though reaching for the source of the soft daylight that spilled through an opening in the ceiling of the cave, illuminating it for a few precious hours before the sun moved on. The golden glow transformed the interior from what could have been an imposing and claustrophobic space to one that felt warm and inviting. It glinted and refracted from the drops of water falling from the ceiling, filling the room with color and life.

A rustle. The silence was broken. A young child, no older than eight, lifted her head above her bed of flowers. With slow, pained movements, she forced her bruised and battered body back to its feet. The flowers she had crushed in her fall began to spring back up, slowly reaching back to the light they craved. The child blinked in the sunlight as she examined her surroundings, taking in the cathedral-like walls and monolithic pillars, the lush grass and the creeping vines, and the worn trail leading deeper into the cave. She was alone, but perhaps she would not be alone for long.

The child began her slow progress down the path, limping from her injuries. The flowers and grass bent under her weight as she passed, leaving a trail of footprints in the vegetation. The path led to an old archway. The child passed through without hesitation and was gone. The flowers where she had lain and the grass upon which she walked slowly rose from where they had been pressed, erasing any trace that moments ago, a child had passed through. The sun that heralded the arrival continued along its course, and light no longer fell through the opening in the ceiling.

The cave was silent.

* * *

 

A lone golden flower rose from a patch of grass greeted the child as she crossed through the arch. Unlike the other golden flowers, however, this one had a face.

“Howdy!”

This one had a face with a mouth that talked.

“I’m Flowey. Flowey the Flower!” said the flower. The child wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, so she remained silent.

“Hmmm… You’re new to the Underground, aren’tcha? Golly, you must be so confused.”

The child scratched at the band-aid on her face. She nodded, then winced as the movement sent a new burst of pain through her skull. She was definitely confused. Maybe he, Flowey, should start with the existence of talking flowers. Was this common? None of the other flowers she’d met had talked.

“Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do. Ready? Here we go!”

The child felt the familiar, horrible sensation of her soul being wrenched from her body. She fought the wave of nausea that threatened to overwhelm her and looked down at her chest. Her soul was a deep red, the color of dried blood, and it pulsed in time with her heart. There it was, right where it always was, hovering in the center of her chest, just below her sternum. She could almost hear the sound of the machine, feel the straps against her wrists...

“See that heart? That is your soul, the very culmination of your being!” Yes, she knew that.

“Your soul starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV.” The child’s head came back up. Now _this_ , she did not know. Her soul could get stronger? She opened her mouth to ask a question, but before she could speak, the flower — Flowey — continued.

“What’s LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course! You want some LOVE, don’t you?”

Oh. The child’s heart sank. It was the same call-and-response, the same ritual she had performed over and over again, just with words she hadn’t heard before. The girl seemed to shrink as she delivered the response: “Yes, I do.”

The flower looked delighted. “Don’t worry, I’ll share some with you! Down here, LOVE is shared through… little white… ‘friendliness pellets.’ Move around! Get as many as you can!”

As he spoke, a number of white orbs that looked vaguely like seeds appeared around him. As the flower finished his monologue, the pellets began to move toward her. The child knew where this was going. The last part of the ritual. Breathe in. Breathe out. She closed her eyes.

And screamed as the pellets tore into her. She fell to the ground. She looked back at Flowey, whose innocent, goofy grin had morphed into a monstrous sneer.

“You idiot. In this world, it’s kill or _be_ killed. Why would _anyone_ pass up an opportunity like this!?”

A ring of pellets encircled her.

“ **Die.** ”

Oh. Normally things didn’t go this far. She just had to survive. She just had to last. She just had to stay determined…

But before they could reach the child, the ring of pellets vanished. Flowey’s face morphed to a mask of disbelief, just before a fireball struck him. With a pained cry, Flowey was ripped out of the ground and flung across the room.

Of all things, a huge goat woman dressed in a muumuu took his place. The child decided to stop trying to predict what was going to happen next.

“What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth…” murmured the giant goat lady. As she spoke, the girl felt the pain from her wounds draining away. She struggled into a sitting position, gaping at the monster towering over her. The goat lady seemed to notice her apprehension.

“Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time.” Yes, humans tended to avoid Mt. Ebott… And the girl hoped things would stay that way.

“What is your name, little one?” asked Toriel. The child took a moment to collect herself before answering.

“Frisk.”

Toriel smiled. “Frisk? That’s a nice name. Come! I will guide you through the catacombs. This way.” Toriel turned and led the way deeper into the cavern. After some hesitation, Frisk stood and trailed after her.

After passing through the next archway, the rough, unformed walls of the natural cave gave way to obvious construction. Smooth walls made of fitted stones loomed on either side, and stairs rose to neatly frame the entrance to the ruins. The doorway was not made the same size as human doorways. Instead it was much larger, clearly made for creatures the size of Toriel or possibly larger. Toriel waited for the child to catch up before entering.

Immediately through the door was a puzzle that Toriel quickly solved. She explained that the Ruins were full of traps and puzzles. Why could that be? Why put a puzzle immediately behind what appeared to be the main door into the Ruins? This entire room seemed dedicated to just the one puzzle. Was it like locking your front door? Frisk wondered to herself.

The next room seemed to confirm her suspicion, but… Didn’t it seem a bit excessive to block the way with retracting spikes? Frisk began to grow nervous. Someone either really didn’t want visitors, or they were very concerned with keeping whatever was inside the Ruins from escaping. Possibly both. She decided to keep her distance from Toriel, just in case her kindness was just an act. After all, just like Flowey had said… Why would anyone pass up an opportunity like this?

The next room did not have a trap. Instead, it had a stuffed dummy in the corner. Toriel cleared her throat before speaking.

“As a human living in the Underground, monsters may attack you. You will need to be prepared for this situation.” Frisk’s mind immediately went back to Flowey’s words: in this world, it’s kill or be killed. Could she fight, if the time came?

But Toriel wasn’t finished speaking yet. “However, worry not! The process is simple. While you are in a fight, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time. I will come resolve the conflict.”

Frisk stared. Was she serious?

“Practice talking to the dummy.”

She was serious. At this rate, Frisk was more inclined to take Flowey’s advice than Toriel’s. But, well... she supposed she had nothing to lose by humoring Toriel for now. As she approached the dummy, she frantically tried to come up with something to say. Normally, Frisk just tried to avoid talking to people. It was proving to be more difficult than she’d expected. She mumbled out some rote question about how the dummy was doing and if was eating well. The dummy, much to her relief, didn’t answer. Toriel seemed pleased.

As they entered the next room, Toriel spoke again. “There is another puzzle in this room. I wonder if you can solve it?”

Ah, she was going to have Frisk solve one. Up to this point, Toriel had been solving all the puzzles. But before Frisk could see what the puzzle was, a frog that was almost as tall as she was hopped out of the Ruins. Frisk once again felt the sickening feeling of her soul being drawn from her body. She clutched her chest. She could almost smell the sulfur, just like then... Did every creature down here have this ability?

Stall for time so that Toriel could resolve the conflict, right? “Y-you’re a very cute frog.” Frisk stammered. She was terrible at this.

The frog… Froggit? ...didn’t seem to be able to understand what she said, but was flattered anyway. It blushed and croaked. How does a frog blush? Before the Froggit could respond, Toriel rushed over and glared at it. It sheepishly hopped away. Huh, that wasn’t so bad. Frisk felt more confident. Now she just had to handle this puzzle Toriel had mentioned.

Frisk’s newfound confidence was dashed by the sight of the puzzle in the next room. Alright, some spikes in front of a door didn’t seem so excessive anymore. This ‘puzzle’ consisted of a bed of spikes surrounded by rushing water.

“This is the puzzle, but…” Toriel seemed to be reconsidering as well. “Here, take my hand for a moment.”

Frisk regarded Toriel’s outstretched hand with horror. No. No, no no no. That’s too close. She couldn’t do it. Frisk turned back into the hallway, ignoring Toriel’s calls. She’d rather attempt the puzzle alone. There was a sign on the wall that she’d missed the first time through. Frisk wasn’t particularly good at reading. She was always slow to learn in school, and her parents didn’t take much interest in her education, so she never got quite as good as the other children. The fact that she was hungry enough to make her head spin did not help her concentration. After some effort, however, she managed to work it out: “The western room is the eastern room’s blueprint.” Frisk couldn’t actually tell east from west down here, but by process of elimination she guessed that the room of death spikes was the eastern room. That would make the previous room the western one.

The western room was pretty bare. The walls were made of stones and the floor of tiles. Some of the walls appeared to be old enough to be crumbling, and vines growing into the crevices were accelerating the process. It only took Frisk a moment to notice that a portion of the tiles were colored differently than the others, and that they formed a particular pattern. Well, that was easy. Frisk paced the path to get a feel for exactly what route to take. Then she took a deep breath and returned to the eastern room. Toriel wasn’t going to be happy, but Frisk just… couldn’t do it.

“Ah, there you are my child. Here, take my hand… Wait, what are you doing? Frisk, wait!”

Frisk rushed past Toriel and into the bed of spikes, before Toriel could stop her and before she could second-guess herself. The spikes didn’t impale her. Frisk carefully followed the route she’d memorized and emerged out the other side unscathed. Toriel followed close behind her. She turned to Frisk with an expression that Frisk had not seen her wear before. Frisk flinched and shrunk away, waiting for Toriel to punish her.

“You did well to solve the puzzle, my child, but that was dangerous. You should have taken my hand. I would have led you on the correct path myself.” Toriel spoke kindly but firmly.

...What? Frisk looked back toward Toriel. She looked concerned and worried, but not angry. Why wasn’t she angry? Frisk hadn’t just made a mistake, she’d actively disobeyed Toriel. She’d been punished before for lesser offenses.

Toriel took a deep breath and smiled. “I had planned something for this hallway but it doesn’t seem needed now. Come, I will tell you about the Ruins.”

The hallway was much the same as the rest of the Ruins. Fitted stone walls crumbling with age, tiled flooring with a worn path down the middle, and vegetation growing into the hall through cracks in the floor and walls. It didn’t look particularly dangerous.

As they walked, Toriel told Frisk about the monster that she had met earlier, the Froggit. She assured Frisk that they meant no harm. Frisk was not convinced, but didn’t dare to argue. As they reached the end of the hallway, Toriel paused.

"I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while. Please remain here. It’s dangerous to explore by yourself.”

Frisk nodded. “‘S okay. I can wait.”

Toriel smiled. “I have an idea. I will give you a cell phone. If you have a need for anything, just call. Be good, alright?”

Frisk’s eyes grew round as Toriel handed her a flip phone. This was the most valuable thing anyone had ever given her. She looked up and opened her mouth to ask if she could keep it, if it was really hers… But Toriel was already gone.

Frisk sat against the wall next to the pillar, grinning from ear to ear. A phone! People almost never gave her anything, and certainly nothing as nice as a flip phone. She opened it and flipped through the menu, ignoring her hunger. There was only one contact, Toriel. Then again, Frisk didn’t know anyone else down here in the Ruins. She called the number.

“This is Toriel.”

Oh. Maybe she should have come up with something to talk about before calling. “Um, I just wanted to say hello.”

“You just wanted to say hello…? Well then. ‘Hello!’ I hope that suffices. Hee hee.”

Toriel hung up. Frisk smiled again. Her first phone call, on her first phone! She fiddled with it, flipping through the menus and pressing all the buttons. Over time, her enthusiasm was dampened by her increasing hunger. Frisk closed the flip phone and put it back in her pocket. When was the last time she’d eaten? Was it yesterday? Longer? She hadn’t eaten for about a day before she fell, so it depended on how long she’d lain in the flowers.

In any event, it had been long enough that she was beginning to feel dizzy if she moved too quickly. Maybe… Maybe Toriel wouldn’t mind if she went to the next room, just for a quick peek. Frisk stood, slowly, and left the hallway.

Immediately her phone rang. Frisk jumped and ran back into the hallway before answering, heart pounding.

“Hello? This is Toriel. You have not left the room, have you?”

“No, I haven’t.” Frisk answered, proud of how she kept her voice from shaking.

“There are a few puzzles ahead that I have yet to explain. It would be dangerous to try to solve them yourself. Be good, alright?”

Toriel hung up. Frisk gulped and slid back against the wall where she had been sitting. She knew a threat when she heard one, no matter what tone it was given in. More spikes, perhaps? Or maybe it would be something new, something involving these monsters? Maybe she shouldn’t go…

...But something was stirring inside Frisk again, a feeling she didn’t recognize. An urge not to give up on her original idea, and even to go further. It was at odds with her natural inclination, the one ingrained in her, the impulse to obey Toriel and stay put. But it was fresh and new and somehow still felt natural. Frisk was fascinated, and decided to act on this new familiar urge. Frisk stood and once again left the hallway.


	2. Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk learns how the world works as she wanders the Ruins.

Immediately to Frisk’s left, a bowl of candy rested on a pillar that was flanked by two streams of water. Her eyes went wide. She immediately grabbed a handful of candies and stuffed them into her pocket. A bit too hasty, her efforts sent the glass bowl crashing to the ground. Frisk didn’t care. She scooped up handfuls of strange candies off the stone floor and stuffed them into her mouth as fast as she could unwrap them. Once she was about halfway through eating the candies, she caught herself. This would probably make her sick if she continued. But it had certainly taken the edge off of her hunger. As she stood, she noticed a sign that had fallen to the ground with the bowl. It read “Take One.” Frisk winced. Yet another rule broken. Maybe Toriel wouldn’t find out about this one for a while…

Frisk left the room with the candy and continued her trek toward what she assumed would be Toriel’s home. Before she’d gone too far, a new creature approached. Frisk stood and watched nervously. Just as she’d feared, Frisk groaned and clutched her chest as creature tore her soul from her body. A fight. Did everything in the Underground want to kill her? Or did they just want her soul, like the others?

The creature itself was nothing terribly scary. It looked like some cross between a ghost and an insect. Frisk decided to call it a Whimsun. It didn’t really seem like it wanted to fight… In fact, it looked so distraught that Frisk felt she could console it.

“Don’t be afraid,” she said. “I won’t…”

But before she had finished her first word, the Whimsun burst into tears and flew away. Frisk had won…? She wasn’t entirely sure, but her soul faded back into her chest. The Whimsun was gone.

The next room featured a row of Frisk’s favorite puzzle element: lethal spike traps! There was a rock in the center of the room and a sign off to the side. Frisk approached the sign to read it —

Her phone rang. Frisk jumped, suddenly very aware that she had disobeyed Toriel and was now very, very far from that first hallway. She calmed herself down before answering. “Hello?”

“Hello, this is Toriel. For no reason in particular… Which do you prefer? Cinnamon or butterscotch?”

Frisk was stumped. She’d heard of cinnamon before, it was a kind of spice. She thought. She’d never heard of butterscotch though, and she’d certainly never had either of them. But she had to choose one…

“C-cinnamon?” She said, the answer coming out as a question instead of a statement.

“Oh, I see. Thank you very much!” Toriel hung up. Frisk took a deep breath. She actually didn’t know what she’d just asked for, but she decided to roll with it. Frisk approached the sign on the wall —

Her phone rang. Frisk blinked, surprised. Again? She answered the phone.

“Hello? This is Toriel. You do not  _ dislike _ butterscotch, do you? I know what your preference is, but would you turn up your nose if you found it on your plate?”

Trapped again. “No ma’am.” Whatever she got, she’d eat it. With a smile.

“Right, right, I understand. Thank you for being patient, by the way.” Toriel sounded pleased. Frisk felt guilty and didn’t answer. Toriel hung up again.

This time Frisk paused to give Toriel time to call again. When she didn’t call, Frisk finally made it to the sign. This time, with Toriel not around, Frisk allowed herself to read the sign out loud. She read faster that way.

“Th-three out of… Four… Grey rocks re- reco- re… Three out of four grey rocks re-com-mend, re-commend, recommend? Three out of four grey rocks recommend you push them.”

Frisk enjoyed a faint sense of triumph. As difficult as she found reading, she still enjoyed it. There was a simple pleasure in effort and success. But what did it mean that three out of four grey rocks recommend she push them? She turned to the rock in the center of the room and finally noticed the set of discolored tiles next to it, leading to a pressure plate. Oh. If she’d been paying better attention, she probably wouldn’t have even needed to read the sign.

Frisk approached the rock. It was bigger than she’d realized, nearly up to her waist. She wasn’t sure she could move it at all, but she leaned against it and pushed as hard as she could anyway. At first nothing happened, but then the rock let out a groan of protest as it moved slowly along the row of discolored tiles. As it finally settled on the pressure plate, Frisk collapsed on top of the rock, exhausted. The spikes retracted. Frisk grinned as she panted. That wasn’t so hard.

After dodging a handful of monster attacks and solving a couple puzzles, Frisk reached a room with three more rocks. Frisk pushed two of them to their respective pressure plates before feeling her soul once more being forced from her body. Frisk hunched over, fighting her nausea yet again, and desperately wished that everything down here would  _ just leave her alone _ …

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted two Froggits hopping toward her. She turned to face them, desperately trying to throw together vaguely reasonable-sounding compliments in her head. She was never very good at this. Her specialty was always avoiding conversation, blending in with the background. But now monsters were seeking her out. She couldn’t just hide forever.

“Uhm, y-your skin is a beautiful shade of green.” Frisk winced. That didn’t sound convincing, even to her, but the Froggit she addressed seemed to be flattered anyway. For some reason. The pair croaked and opened their mouths. Out from inside came little white flies. Frisk was fascinated. Did they eat flies, or did they just store them in their mouths? Then one rushed at her and struck her upper left arm. Frisk yelped and clamped a hand over her injured arm. The Froggits were attacking.

The little flies buzzed after her one after the other, and Frisk dodged them all. Even though the flies were easier to dodge than she was used to, the throbbing in her arm reminded her not to be complacent. After a while, the Froggits ended their attack and closed their large mouths. Panting, Frisk turned to address the second Froggit.

“You’re strong.” Frisk murmured. “You’re very strong.” She meant it. It was a compliment with a hint of fear. The Froggit blushed anyway. 

Another round of flies followed, but Frisk was ready this time, and the Froggits did not seem to have their hearts in the fight anymore. After Frisk dodged a few flies, they closed their mouths and hopped away. 

Frisk sighed in relief as her soul merged with her body once again. She examined her arm. It hurt more than she would have expected, and was still bleeding slowly. But on top of that, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something else was wrong. She felt weak, as though something important had been taken from her. 

Frisk carefully peeled the old, dirty band-aid off of her face and stuck it on her arm. There. She felt better already.

Frisk persuaded the next rock to remain on its pressure plate, something she’d never had to do before, and entered the next room. A low wooden table with some cheese on it was the only thing in the barren hallway. Frisk eyed the cheese hungrily. The candy she’d eaten earlier only suppressed her appetite for a little while, and now her hunger was creeping back. When she attempted to pry the cheese from the table, she found that it had fused to the wood. Maybe it would be better not to eat that after all. She glanced across the hall and noticed a mouse hole in the wall. The mouse must be trying to pry the cheese from the table as well. Frisk smiled at the thought, but felt a sense of loss, as though something was just out of reach.

Frisk pressed her back against the wall and allowed herself to slide down it with a sigh. It had been a long few days leading up to this adventure. If this wasn’t the strangest thing she’d ever done, it had to come close. How about a list? First, she began her little adventure by surviving a lethal fall. That was strange enough by itself. Then she met a talking flower and a goat woman. Frisk smiled. It was almost like a fairy tale she’d read in school.

Her smile faded as she massaged her throbbing arm. Well. Almost like a fairy tale. Everything she met tried to kill her, she was trapped in a strange place, and Toriel scared her a bit. That said, she didn’t think that any of the creatures she’d met had really intended to hurt her, and there were worse places to be trapped. Things could be worse. They could very easily be worse.

Frisk clutched her small legs against her chest and pressed her cheeks into her knees. She stayed that way for some time. All that said… There was another question to consider. What did Frisk want? Frisk squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t like that question. It was too open-ended, didn’t have a right answer. It was a scary question. But it was precious to her.

Frisk opened her eyes again. She was overthinking this. Nothing had actually changed. Toriel just wanted something from her, just like everyone else. And even though there were worse places to be trapped, a cage was still a cage. Frisk stood. Her new phone pressed against her leg. She hesitated… then shook her head and walked to the next room.

The next room was, if not particularly beautiful, at least a bit different than what she’d seen before. The walls slanted inward in the middle of the room to create a bottleneck. The small space between the walls was covered in leaves and filled by a… Frisk blinked. A ghost. She paused for a moment, then shrugged and kept walking. Oh well. There’s a ghost now. One more thing to add to the growing list of strange things that had happened today.

“zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz,” said the ghost.

“What?” said Frisk, pausing by the leaves.

“zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz,” responded the ghost. “zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…”

The ghost was actually saying the letter Z out loud over and over. Was it pretending to be asleep?

“Excuse me, I need to go through here.” Frisk prompted.

“zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… are they gone yet? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” The ghost was ignoring her. Frisk grew more irritated. Maybe she could remove it by force?

Frisk drew in a deep breath. “Hey! Get up!” She yelled. The ghost’s eyes finally opened. Frisk flinched as her soul —  _ rough leather, it stinks, her smell, it’s loud, can’t hear _ — was wrenched from her body once more. She immediately regretted her decision to attempt to move the ghost by force.

The ghost, Napstablook, didn’t seem particularly inclined to fight her. In fact, he looked pretty glum. Did he just not want to move? Frisk hesitated, then gave the ghost a little smile. Napstablook gave a little chuckle before beginning to sob uncontrollably.

“No, it’s alright... Ahh!” Frisk went to comfort the crying ghost, but the tears veered toward her. Where they touched, they burned like acid. She yelped and scrambled away from Napstablook, brushing the tears off of her body.

“oh……. s-sorry………” The ghost mumbled. He can’t help himself, Frisk realized. This must happen whenever he cries. Frisk pushed away the pain and smiled again. “Hey, wanna hear a joke?”

The ghost looked confused, but didn’t protest.

“I heard that a pretty girl once wanted to marry a ghost. I don’t know what possessed her!”

Wow, that was truly terrible. Frisk giggled, oblivious to how awful that joke was. The ghost chuckled again as well. Napstablook must not have very high standards. Frisk braced herself for another round of tears, but Napstablook seemed to manage to keep himself under control.

“hey, what do you think of this…” he asked. He started crying again. Frisk tensed, ready to dodge… But the tears went up, toward his head. They coalesced to form a top hat.

“i call it “dapper blook”. do you like it…” Napstablook mumbled. Frisk gave him a thumbs up. 

“oh gee…” Napstablook seemed shy. Frisk let out a little breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding as she felt her soul fade back into her chest.

“i usually come to the ruins because there’s nobody around, but today i met somebody nice. oh, i’m rambling again… i’ll get out of your way…” Napstablook faded and disappeared. Finally, the way was open. 

Frisk took a step forward and nearly collapsed as her legs screamed in protest. She looked down at herself in confusion. Her shirt and pants were in tatters, each dotted with a half-dozen different holes. Beneath each hole, her skin was red and peeling, and the worst patches were oozing a clear liquid. On top of everything else, she was hungry.

“Oh.” She murmured. “Right. Acid tears.” Frisk forced herself forward, into the next hallway. Forward or left? Forward. A dead end with a sign. What did it say? She was having more trouble than usual deciphering the letters. Something about... Spiders? And baking. Baking! Food? And a sale! 

Frisk looked around the room once more. There was a cobweb in the corner, with some gold coins in it. Ah, of course. Frisk had actually picked up a handful of these coins as she walked through the rooms, and a few of the monsters had left them behind. She only had a few, but she put them in the cobweb.

Some spiders descended from the ceiling and hung just in front of Frisk. They dropped a crescent roll in front of her and then swiftly ascended again. Frisk immediately grabbed the roll and stuffed it in her mouth. It tasted funny but she didn’t care. After all she’d been through, taste was the last thing on her mind. Frisk’s hunger died down and, to her surprise, so did the pain. She glanced down at her chest again. She was definitely still injured, but… Was it her imagination? Were her wounds closing? She couldn’t tell, but she felt much better.

With newfound vigor, Frisk left the room and followed the other path. She felt as though the hardest part was behind her. And it seemed to be the case, as the following rooms proved much easier to deal with than Napstablook had. While searching for the lever to open a door, she met an insect that just wanted some alone time and a vegetable that looked scary but really just wanted to feed her dinner. She was beginning to feel more and more comfortable interacting with the monsters while dodging their attacks, enough so that they began to not feel threatening anymore. 

Then, still searching for the lever, she found something she didn’t expect. She fell into the room and onto a soft pile of leaves, just like the other rooms she’d tried. Like the other holes, she didn’t find a lever. This time, she found a red bow. She felt a chill run down her back. What was it Toriel said? Frisk was the first to fall down here? No… Frisk was the first to fall down in a long time. She wasn’t the first. What had Toriel done to the others?

Sobered, Frisk took the ribbon and went on her way.

Three Froggits awaited Frisk in the next room. To Frisk’s great surprise, these Froggits could speak, but Frisk had trouble understanding what they said. Something about four frogs and mercy? Frisk decided to go on her way.

Before she could leave the room, her phone rang. Frisk’s heart lurched. This time, the guilt was colored by a hint of fear. Frisk took a deep breath and answered the phone reluctantly.

“Yes?” 

“Hello?” Toriel’s voice. Of course. “I just realized that it has been a while since I have cleaned up. I was not expecting to have company so soon.”

So soon? So soon after what? Frisk was afraid to ask.

“There are probably a lot of things lying about here and there,” Toriel continued. “You can pick them up, but do not carry more than you need. Someday you might see something you really like. You will want to leave room in your pockets for that.” 

With a click, Toriel hung up. Frisk pocketed her phone. The conversation had done very little to allay her suspicions. On a whim, she glanced over her shoulder before heading into the next room.

Across the room, a blur of yellow and a flash of a smile.

Frisk’s heart dropped into her stomach.  _ Flowey. _ He was still following her.

Suddenly Frisk felt as though the walls were closing in on her, actively trapping her here with the flower that hunted her. She turned and hurried into the next room.

Several rooms and puzzles later, Frisk was exhausted and beaten down. She trudged along, not really paying attention to her surroundings, only turning when she couldn’t go straight anymore. The vegetable monsters may have only wanted to feed her dinner, but Frisk had a lot of trouble avoiding their strikes. Against the most recent one, Frisk actually feared for her life and lashed out until the monster ran away. She was too tired to care.

The sounds from behind her faded as Frisk passed through a doorway that opened not into another small enclosed room, but a ledge overlooking a vast cavern. The cavern was filled with somber, soaring structures that stretched on in rows till the darkness overtook them. Despite obviously being designed to house a multitude, the city was completely silent. Not a single window was lit to indicate the presence of a soul living there, not a footstep stirred the dusty air of the cavern. It was as though the entire population of the city had vanished, leaving their homes behind as the only evidence that a great nation had once lived there.

Frisk sat on the edge of the precipice and rested in silence, enchanted by the stern presence of the Ruins.

The spell was broken by an unusually loud croak from the doorway. Frisk slowly hauled herself back to her feet, ignoring her protesting muscles. As she turned toward the door, she noticed a knife lying on the ledge next to her. She picked it up and tested it. Ah, just a fake. What a disappointment. She pocketed the toy knife and hobbled toward the door.

A Froggit waited outside the door. If it attacked, Frisk suspected she would die without even having the opportunity to complain. It did not. Instead, it spoke.

“Just between you and me, I saw Toriel come out of here just a little while ago. She was carrying some groceries. I didn’t ask what they were for. We’re all too intimidated to talk to her.”

Frisk nodded listlessly and continued on her way. Apparently in her daze earlier, she had passed a fork in the path and hadn’t noticed. She rounded the corner to face a large but leafless tree. Before she could progress any further, she heard a faint voice.

“Oh dear, that took longer than I thought it would.”   
Toriel. Frisk’s stupor vanished, to be replaced by sinking dread. She’d been putting off thinking about this meeting. She’d directly disobeyed Toriel, and now she had wandered all the way to her home. It was too late to hide. Frisk braced herself for what she knew was coming next.

Toriel rounded the tree with her phone raised to her ear. As soon as she caught sight of Frisk, Toriel pocketed her phone and rushed over to her. Toriel loomed over her, making Frisk feel as though she were shrinking. 

“How did you get here, my child?” Toriel demanded.

“I’m sorry, I was just curious what was outside the hallway and I—” Frisk burst out tearfully.

“Are you hurt?” Toriel interrupted. Wait, what? Frisk fell silent.

“Who did this to you? You will get an apology.” Toriel looked genuinely concerned and outraged. Frisk couldn’t understand. Why was she concerned? After all, her injuries were her own fault for disobeying and for not defending herself like she ought to have done.

More to the point, why was she not angry with Frisk? Frisk couldn’t understand.

“I should not have left you alone for so long. It was irresponsible to try to surprise you like this. Err… Well, I suppose I cannot hide it any longer. Come, small one!” Toriel reached out and took Frisk’s hand in her massive one. Frisk jerked away and fell backward, scrambling away from her hand in a blind panic. Broken bricks rubbed her back as she fetched up against a wall. She froze at the sensation and looked back at Toriel’s face. 

Toriel’s hand was back by her side. Her expression was… difficult to read. Gone was the outrage and concern, replaced a mix of hurt and worry and something else. Frisk closed her eyes and tried to calm her trembling. Her mom in particular hated it when she reacted this way. It usually led to something worse happening afterward.

Toriel waited for Frisk to open her eyes again before speaking. “Are you all right, my child?”

She wasn’t talking about Frisk’s injuries. Frisk stood.

“I’m fine.”

Toriel hesitated long enough to make it clear she was not convinced, but turned without arguing and walked down the hallway. Frisk trailed after her.

Just up ahead, a house emerged from the stone. It was made from the same material as the walls that surrounded her. Frisk slowed to a stop. A small building, isolated from the others. An adult who gave her gifts and seemed to care about her wellbeing. The difference of the people around them. It all added up. Frisk knew what Toriel wanted from her.

_ No. Not this time. I refuse. _

Toriel turned, one hand on the door. “Is something the matter, my child?”

_ I refuse to be bought and sold again. That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? _

Frisk felt her aches and fatigue fade away. Something was welling up inside her, a familiar yet new sensation that pushed away her guilt and fear and confusion.

“Frisk?”

She ran up into the house ahead of Toriel. “It’s nothing, I’m fine.”

_ I’ll escape this cage and live for myself. I have to. _

Frisk was filled with determination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! I know the direction of the story has been a little vague so far, but don't worry, more will be revealed as the story progresses.
> 
> This chapter came a few weeks early because I got a respectable amount of writing done. Expect chapters either monthly or every other week.


	3. These Small Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk explores Toriel's house.

Frisk’s newfound determination promptly abandoned her upon entering the house. Some of the places she’d lived in before had basements, and in every instance their family had had access to a basement, that’s where the machine had gone. Trapped in memories, Frisk was a bit distracted while Toriel was speaking, and only caught the end.

“...I want you to have a nice time living here, so I will hold off on snail pie for tonight. Here, I have another surprise for you.”

_ A nice time living here? _ Frisk’s dread returned. Toriel turned to walk down the hallway, and Frisk trailed along behind her. They stopped in front of a closed door a short way down the hall.

“This is it. A room of your own. I hope you like it!” When Toriel moved as though she were going to raise her hand, Frisk flinched away. Toriel caught herself and lowered her hand. After an awkward silence, Toriel spoke again.

“Erm, is something burning? Make yourself at home, I should go check on the pie.” Toriel hurried down the hallway in the other direction. Alone at last, Frisk relaxed.

Aside from the menacing staircase, the house was surprisingly homey. Despite being underground, Toriel seemed to have acquired birch wood for the floors and doors, and had painted the walls a warm orange. The house seemed sparsely furnished, with only the occasional potted water plant and end table to break the monotony of the hall. Frisk pushed open the waiting door and stepped into the room.

Unlike the rest of the house, this room was painted red. It had all Frisk had ever wanted in a bedroom, and a few things she didn’t know she could want. Against the right wall was a twin-sized bed with a checkered quilt. At the foot of the bed was a box of assorted toys. Just for a little while, Frisk’s anxiety faded. As she grabbed a toy and bounced up onto the bed, she could pretend she were just an ordinary kid playing alone in her room, if only for a moment.

After sifting through the contents of the box for a while, the moment passed. Frisk put the toys down on the bed beside her, a bit disappointed. There were some kids she knew who talked about playing alone with their toys for hours. Now that she had the opportunity, Frisk couldn’t see the appeal.

Frisk yawned, fighting off a wave of sleepiness, and looked around the room again. She hadn’t yet looked through any of the other furniture, maybe something in there would shed some light on how to leave the ruins. 

The cabinet against the back wall didn’t particularly help either. It was full of assorted striped shirts, much like the one Frisk was wearing right now. In fact… Frisk glanced down at her tattered shirt. 

Clad in a new shirt of the same type but a size too big, Frisk moved on to the shelf. Nothing particularly interesting there. Just a dusty, empty picture frame.

The last container in the room was another box, tucked away behind the cabinet. It was latched shut but not locked. After a short struggle, Frisk pried the latch open and lifted the lid.

It was full of shoes of different sizes. Frisk counted one, two… six pairs. They weren’t monster shoes, either. Frisk recognized some of the brands. Other humans had been here before her. Where were they now?

Frisk closed the box and latched it again. The only thing left was a lamp. Frisk highly doubted the lamp had any insight to offer, but she pulled its string anyway.

The lamp, being a lamp, turned off. As lamps do.

The room was plunged into darkness. As Frisk moved to turn the lamp back on, another wave of exhaustion hit her. Frisk turned and collapsed into the bed. Despite the bed being more soft than she was used to, she was asleep within moments.

* * *

 

_ The hulking mass of tubing and metal plates above her had been deactivated for some time now, and Frisk was trying to sleep in spite of the aching of her wrists. Perhaps she could have shifted to a more comfortable position, but that would require her to muster the motivation to move. It wasn’t worth it. She lay there a long time. _

_ With no warning, Frisk felt a presence near her table. Her exhausted body lay limply on the table as a pair of hands removed the restraints keeping her in place. She heard words that she felt like she ought to understand, but didn’t. Frisk felt a flutter of agitation. _

Ah, I wish she’d let me sleep a bit.

_ There was nothing for it, though. Mom would not take no for an answer. Frisk felt her agitation fade back into a familiar listless apathy.  _

_ Suddenly she was being carried down a hallway. Frisk looked up at the woman holding her. She felt confusion try to take hold on her. _

That’s not Mom. Who is this?

_ A strange woman was carrying Frisk down a hallway and up the stairs, moving quickly but cautiously, stopping to check around corners and through open doors. Frisk observed with a detached interest. This was new, but she wished things would get to the point. _

_ On cue, a gunshot rang out. Frisk felt something hot as she fell to the floor. She looked up to see the woman clutching at a red stain in her chest. As Frisk watched, the woman’s form changed to a familiar man reaching towards her as she scrambled away. Despite her fear, Frisk couldn’t help being drawn to his red eyes… _

Frisk jerked awake, choking back a cry. She was in a strange room on a new bed, what happened, where was she?

Then she remembered. She remembered all the events of the past few days. Her breathing slowed. It was just a nightmare, it wasn’t real.

That wasn’t how it happened.

Once again anchored in reality, Frisk sat up and swung her legs off the edge of the bed and stretched. She felt her way along the wall until she reached the lamp and turned it back on.

A plate was in the center of the room, and on that plate was a piece of pie. Frisk’s stomach growled. She hadn’t had any proper food in a couple days now, and a pie was far better than any food she’d expected to have. Frisk wolfed down half of the slice, then stuffed the other half in her pocket for later.

Frisk left the room and continued her exploration of the house. A little further down the hall, Frisk opened another door and stepped into a room painted blue. There was a writing desk, a queen-size bed, a dresser, and a bookshelf with a pair of familiar potted golden flowers resting atop it. 

Frisk ignored the flowers and went to the desk. There was a book open to a page with a passage circled. It was a joke.

“Why did the skeleton want a friend? Because he was BONELY!”

Wow, that was terrible. Of course, Frisk committed it to memory, just in case.

Out of curiosity, she pulled a book off of the bookshelf and opened it to a random page, but there were too many words clustered together too closely. Frisk decided it wasn’t worth the effort to read it and put it back.

Frisk left the room and walked further down the hallway. There was a third door with a sign on it.

“Room under r-... re-no-vay-shuns?” Frisk had no idea what that meant, but the door was locked, so Frisk wasn’t able to enter to find out.

Frisk walked the length of the hall, careful not to look at the stairs. A little table rested in the corner of the living room, with three chairs around it. Toriel sat in a comfy-looking armchair next to the fireplace, reading a book. 

Frisk loved watching fire. Something about it was soothing. She found herself standing before the fireplace, mesmerized, before she could remember walking there. The fire wasn’t even burning hot, just pleasantly warm. It must have been magic. Frisk felt as though she could put her hand inside and not be harmed…

“What are you doing, my child?”

Frisk jerked her hand back and stepped away from the fireplace as Toriel’s voice pulled her from her stupor.

“N-nothing,” Frisk lied. Toriel didn’t look convinced. She sighed and closed her book.

“I made sure it would not hurt you, my child, but it would not be wise to do things that could be harmful.”

Frisk nodded, abashed. Placated, Toriel smiled.

“I am glad you are here, my child. There are many old books I want to share. I want to show you my favorite bug-hunting spot. I’ve also prepared a curriculum for your education.”

Frisk’s heart sank. Toriel acted as though she had no intention of ever letting her leave.

“This may come as a surprise to you,” Toriel continued, “but I have always wanted to be a teacher.”

She paused. “Actually, perhaps that isn’t very surprising.  _ Still _ . I am glad to have you living here.”

Toriel seemed to notice something on Frisk’s face. “Oh, did you want something? What is it?”

Frisk looked down and away. Toriel probably wouldn’t like her question. Toriel leaned forward. 

“What is it, my child? You may ask.”

Frisk looked back at Toriel and took a breath. “When can I leave the mountain?”

Toriel looked stunned, but tried to hide it with a smile. “What? This…. This is your home now. Um, would you like to hear about this book I am reading? It is called “72 Uses for Snails.” How about it?”

Frisk hesitated, then plunged onwards. “B-but I didn’t mean to be down here. I want to go back.”

Toriel’s smile grew strained. “Um… How about an exciting snail fact?” She opened her book again.

“Did you know that snails sometimes flip their digestive systems as they mature? Interesting.”

Frisk blinked, confused. She didn’t know exactly what a ‘digestive system’ was, but she was pretty sure it had little to do with leaving the mountain.

“You… I- I don’t need any help. If you can just tell me how to leave, I can go on my own,” the child said, a bit desperately.

Toriel closed her book and stood. “I have to do something. Stay here.”

Frisk nodded, dejectedly. She’d failed.

Toriel left the room and Frisk trailed after her. Toriel descended the stairs and went through a door at the bottom. Frisk waited at the top for her to return. 

After a few moments, Frisk felt and heard a deep crash ripple through the house. The exit had been under her feet the whole time, and she’d let her fear of descending the stairs stop her. Frisk was filled with despair.

Toriel returned up the stairs and returned to her chair while Frisk followed silently. Toriel smiled at Frisk with what seemed to be a hint of relief.

“My apologies, my child. There was just something I needed to finish.” Toriel opened the book on snails again.

“Would you like to hear some snail facts?” Frisk nodded. Toriel sank back into her chair.

“Did you know that snails make terrible shoelaces?”

After explaining that snails grew larger openings to their shells as they aged, Toriel paused and looked up from her book. Frisk hadn’t spoken in the last hour.

“It is getting close to time for dinner, Frisk. You slept well into the afternoon today.”

Frisk didn’t respond. Toriel stood anyway.

“Would you like to come help me make supper? I’m going to make snail stew, and we can eat more of my pie for dessert.” Toriel seemed to be making an effort to cheer Frisk from her dejected mood. Frisk hadn’t particularly liked the snails she’d eaten before, but maybe Toriel knew how to prepare them. Frisk nodded and stood.

It was a small kitchen that had all the basic amenities of a kitchen. Toriel ran some water into a pot and set it on the stove. Rather than lighting the stove, Toriel sent a burst of fire from her hand to rest underneath the pot. Frisk started.

Magic.

“The snails are in the refrigerator, my child. Could you get them for me?”

Frisk opened the refrigerator. She was greeted by a sight she hadn’t expected, a brand-name chocolate bar she’d seen on the surface. Next to the chocolate bar was a jar of snails. Frisk left the chocolate and took the snails.

Frisk watched Toriel work with growing amazement. She couldn’t recall ever watching her mother cook before. In fact, Frisk wasn’t sure if her mother even could cook.

Toriel, on the other hand, seemed as familiar with the kitchen as her own bedroom. Frisk watched in silence, occasionally fetching things for Toriel, as a collection of vegetables, seasonings, and snails turned into something that looked delicious.

It _was_  delicious, as Frisk found out a few moments later. Frisk and Toriel sat opposite each other, each with a bowl of snail stew. Toriel had not attempted to break the silence in some time now, and Frisk was content to sit and eat. She rarely got a meal this nice at home.

Toriel put down her spoon and looked into her bowl. “My child… I know you wish to leave the Ruins.”   
She looked back up at Frisk. “But the Underground outside the Ruins is a dangerous place, and your trip would be in vain. There is no exit from the Underground.”

Frisk’s heart skipped a beat. No exit? No, there had to be a way out. She refused to believe otherwise.

“I know you must have people waiting for you, and I am sorry, but no one can… What do you mean?” Toriel paused as Frisk shook her head.

“‘S nobody waiting.” Frisk mumbled around a mouthful of snail stew.

“Even if they did not know where you fell, surely your family would be looking for you by now.” The way she spoke turned the sentence into a question. Frisk swallowed and put her spoon down.

“Nah. I think they’re dead.” She explained, before going back to eating.

She spoke so matter-of-factly that Toriel didn’t seem to seem to know how to react.

“My condolences for your loss,” Toriel said after a while. Frisk just shrugged and glanced around the room. Something had been bothering her since she first entered the living room, but she couldn’t tell what. Then she figured it out. Frisk swallowed and snuck some snails into her pocket.

“Why don’t you have four chairs for your table?”

Toriel froze, then smiled. “One of them broke, and I have not gotten a second one.”

“Oh.” Frisk held out her bowl for more.

After dinner, Toriel took Frisk to a part of the Ruins she hadn’t seen on her way in. It was a small cave, untouched by the construction through the rest of the Ruins. A stream bubbled out of cracks in the rocks, running down the cliff face and winding through the room before disappearing further underground. Large blue flowers were scattered in the room, and glowing blue bugs hovered over the water.

Frisk’s eyes widened. The only time she’d really managed to escape from the towering structures of the city had been on her trek up Mount Ebbot. This isolated little cave was one of the most beautiful places she’d ever seen.

“Do you know what these are?” asked Toriel, indicating one of the flowers. Frisk shook her head.

“We call them Echo Flowers. They will repeat your words back to you.” Toriel smiled and touched the base of the nearby flower. 

“They will repeat your words back to you,” said the Echo Flower. Frisk gaped. She’d never heard of a plant that could do that! Toriel laughed.

Time fell away in that cave. Frisk and Toriel played with the Echo Flowers. Frisk fell into the water, making Toriel laugh. Frisk didn’t think it was as funny as Toriel did. Just for a moment, there in that cave, Frisk forgot why she was there.

Frisk caught one of the little blue bugs hovering on the water.

“What are these?” she asked, turning her hands as the bug crawled across them.

“Those are called glow bugs,” Toriel explained. She crouched next to Frisk and looked at the beetle. “They like living here because of the water and the Echo Flowers.”

“Oh,” Frisk said, gazing intently at the little bug. Toriel raised her hand and placed it on Frisk’s head.

Frisk jerked away. The glow bug took off and joined its friends. Toriel hastily withdrew her hand.

“My apologies, my child. I forgot.”

Frisk didn’t respond. The moment had passed. Toriel and Frisk returned to the house. Toriel put Frisk to bed, careful not to touch her, and turned out the light.

Frisk lay awake in bed for a long time, thinking. She had almost been… content, this evening. Just for a little while. Just for a little while, she’d forgotten everything else, and had played by the brook as though nothing had happened.  _ Is that what I want? _

Frisk rolled over.  _ What if I didn’t leave? I could stay here, in the Ruins, with Toriel. She might… She might even be nice. Is that what I want? Do I want to live here? ...No. No, I already decided. I don’t want to live in a cage anymore. _

Frisk sat up and clambered out of bed. She snuck out of her room as quietly as possible, trying not to wake the sleeping goat woman, and descended the stairs.

The stairs led to a long hallway. The walls and floor seemed to be nothing but stone, as though the hallway was cut straight into the rock. Frisk ran her hands along it. The stone was smooth. Was the surface of the stone melted after it was cut?

Frisk reached the end of the hallway and her heart sank. Toriel had collapsed the ceiling in front of the doorway. Frisk could see a doorway through the pile of rubble, but couldn’t quite reach it.

Frisk took a deep breath, then started to work. She would clear as much as she could tonight, then go back to bed before Toriel woke.

Frisk’s plan was shattered by the sound of footsteps down the hallway. Frisk looked frantically for somewhere to hide, but there was nowhere to go.

“What are you doing, my child?” Toriel’s face looked the closest to angry Frisk had yet seen it. “I told you, the Underground is dangerous. Every human that falls down here meets the same fate. I have seen it again and again. They come. They leave. They die. You want to follow the same path?”

Frisk gathered her determination and nodded. Toriel snorted.

“You naive child… If you leave the ruins, they, Asgore, will kill you. I’m trying to protect you, do you understand?”

Frisk nodded. It didn’t matter if Toriel was telling the truth or not. “I want to leave the ruins.”

“Hmph. You are just like the others. There is only one solution to this. Prove to me you are strong enough to survive.”

Frisk fought back the urge to vomit as her soul was torn from her chest. She took one last look into Toriel’s resolute eyes before drawing the tiny toy knife she’d found earlier. 

Toriel responded by summoning a wave of fire and hurling it down the hallway. Frisk dodged and sprang backwards in an attempt to gain more time to evade Toriel’s attacks. She noticed her mistake too late. Toriel’s magic hadn’t dissipated; instead, the fire had pooled against the rocks behind Frisk. She fell into the flames.

The fire ate into Frisk’s clothes and skin. This was not like the fire in the fireplace; this fire was hotter than any Frisk had felt before. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t breathe. She could feel her skin peeling as it burned. She opened her mouth to scream, and the fire entered her and consumed the air in her lungs. The last thing she felt was a sensation of falling.

The world stuttered.

Frisk let go of the door and collapsed into the leaves.

Toriel rushed to her side. “What is the matter? Are you hurt?”

Frisk saw the goat woman’s concerned face, remembered the fire, and screamed. She forced herself back against the wall and raised her arms to protect herself.

“Frisk! What is wrong?”

“P-please don’t hurt me, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Frisk sobbed.

“Do not worry, my child, I will not harm you. There, there,” soothed Toriel, reaching towards Frisk. Frisk pushed her arms away frantically and tried to make herself even smaller. Toriel could only watched in distress as Frisk cried herself into a stupor. Once her wails had faded to whimpers and she no longer had the strength to lash out, Toriel cradled the lost human in her arms and carried her into the house.

Toriel laid Frisk in the bed she’d prepared and sat with Frisk until she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm probably not going to be able to keep up a chapter-a-week schedule, but I'll keep releasing once a week until I can't anymore.
> 
> I'd like to thank my two sisters for both dying to Toriel in exactly the same way, giving me the idea for how to handle this chapter.


	4. Stranger than Fiction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk unravels what exactly happened to her, and tries to find another way to escape.

Frisk snapped awake, sweating with blankets knotted around her. She breathed in, then out again.

She could breathe.

Frisk reached under her sleeve and pulled at the skin on her left arm, stretched at it till she felt liquid under her fingers.

Her skin hadn’t melted.

Frisk wasn’t dying.

Why not? Frisk let her arms fall back to her side.

“Magic,” she whispered.

Frisk untangled herself from the blankets and forced herself out of the bed. She felt her way along the wall until she reached the lamp. She turned on the light and turned to leave the room. Best to escape now before Toriel came to check on her.

Something was lying in the middle of the room. A single slice of pie on a plate, in exactly the same place as it had been the previous day. Frisk frowned. Something was… Not wrong, exactly, but something was _off_.

Frisk took a bite of the pie. Sure enough, it was butterscotch-cinnamon, and, to Frisk’s surprise, it was still a bit warm. She stuffed the remainder of the pie in her pocket and quietly opened the door.

The moment Frisk left the room, Toriel appeared in the doorway to the living room. Yes, that luck seemed about par for the course so far. Frisk froze.

“Good morning, Frisk.” Toriel approached until she was about an arm's length away. Frisk focused on keeping herself from shaking too visibly. Toriel sighed and crouched in front of Frisk.

“I understand that you do not wish to speak of it, but it is clear to me that you are not ‘fine.’ I do not know what happened for you to act that way, but I have no intention of harming you. Quite the opposite, in fact.” Toriel paused. Frisk was having none of this, and Toriel could tell. Her gaze softened.

“My child, I will not make you tell me anything. But I want you to know something. Whatever it is you were sorry for, I forgive you. You do not need to be afraid.”

Frisk’s shaking slowed down. She didn’t really understand what Toriel meant, but she didn’t appear interested in punishing Frisk at the moment. Toriel stood and smiled.

“For now, we should get you some fresh clothes. The shirt you are wearing seems as though it will fall apart at any minute. I think I have something that is your size.”

Toriel led Frisk back into the bedroom. Frisk pushed down her impatience. She just had to wait for Toriel to lower her guard, then she could escape.

Toriel opened the dresser and rummaged through it. She pulled out a pair of brown pants and a green sweater with a yellow stripe across the chest. She held them up in front of Frisk.

“Yes, these should do nicely. I think it would be good for these to be worn again.” She placed the clothes on the bed. “Why don’t you try them on?”

Frisk nodded and took her tattered shirt off. Toriel gasped.

“What happened to your arm, my child?”

Frisk glanced at her arm. Blood was smeared around the area where she’d clawed at her skin a few minutes ago. She hastily threw the new sweater over her head.  
“N-nothing.” she lied. “I just scraped myself when I fell.”

Toriel did not seem convinced, but didn’t push the issue. Instead, Frisk felt the pain in her arm fade.

_Magic._

Toriel smiled.

“There, much better. After you finish changing, come to the living room and we can eat.”

Frisk’s stomach growled as Toriel left the room. Well… Some food before she left wouldn’t hurt anything. She changed pants hurriedly and followed after Toriel.

Toriel had prepared omelettes out of some kind of egg Frisk had never seen before mixed with some kind of vegetables and snails. Of course there were snails; Toriel was cooking.

Frisk ate quickly, occasionally slipping some of the omelette into her pocket when she got the opportunity. She remained silent or answered in one-word sentences in response to Toriel’s attempts to start a conversation. After a while, Toriel gave up and let the meal proceed in silence.

Near the end of the meal, Toriel spoke up once more.

“I did not get the opportunity to properly welcome you yesterday, my child. I baked a Cinnamon-Butterscotch pie to celebrate your arrival, but you were asleep by the time it cooled. I truly do look forward to living together. There is so much I want to share with you, so many old books I want to read to you, so many places I want to show you. I even prepared a curriculum for your education.”

She paused and smiled. “It may come as a surprise, but I wish to be a teacher.”

“I know.” Frisk mumbled around a mouthful of egg. Toriel seemed surprised.

“Was it that obvious? Ah, well. I am quite glad to have you living here.”  
Frisk was confused. Why was Toriel telling her all this again? Frisk began to suspect something, but... No, that’s absurd. There had to be another reason.

After breakfast, without giving Frisk a chance to escape, Toriel’s education began. It seemed that her curriculum began with determining what Frisk knew already, which, much to Frisk’s shame, was not terribly much. She was bad at basic math, a terribly slow reader, and, of course, was entirely unable to use magic.

“Perhaps you are too tense. Try to relax before attempting magic.” Toriel suggested. Frisk closed her eyes and did the best she could while under the gaze of the monster that had engulfed her in flames.

Nothing happened. Then, after a few moments… Nothing continued to happen. Frisk sighed and opened her eyes, dejected. Toriel placed her hand on her chin.

“Hmm. Well, there is one more thing we could try. Stay still.”

Confused, Frisk stood as still as she could. A moment passed…

Frisk doubled over and vomited, failing to suppress the sudden nausea and memories as her soul was drawn from her chest. Toriel let out a surprised bleat and released her hold on Frisk’s soul. The bloodred heart faded back into her chest.

“I am terribly sorry, my child! Are you alright? Do not worry, I will clean this up.”

Toriel rushed to the kitchen and returned with a towel. Frisk backed until she hit a wall and slid down it. She felt as though she had been exercising. Her gut muscles hurt.

Toriel cleaned the wooden floor quickly as Frisk rested. Before long, there was no sign anything had happened. Toriel returned the cloth to the kitchen before returning to crouch before Frisk.

“I am so sorry, Frisk. Had I known it would hurt you, I would never have drawn out your soul. Has this happened every time you have gotten in a fight with a monster?”

Frisk drew her knees up to her chest and nodded. “‘S not always bad if I know it’s coming.”

“I have never heard of this happening before. I knew that most humans were unable to use magic, but never did I imagine you would be harmed simply by engaging in a fight with a monster.”

Toriel stood. “Would you like for me to help you clean up?”

Frisk shook her head and stood.

“Alright. Perhaps we should try something other than magic for a while.”

Toriel watched Frisk closely during the entire evaluation, affording her no opportunity to escape. Toriel’s questioning paused for lunch and continued well into the afternoon, much to Frisk’s irritation and growing shame. Mercifully, Toriel stopped her interrogation before dinner and took her to the little cave they had visited yesterday. Toriel once again explained what the Echo Flowers and glow bugs were. They ate their snail quiche by the stream and played with the flowers and the water. It wasn’t as fun as the first time. Toriel’s face kept bringing the memory of being burned alive to Frisk’s mind.

Toriel’s behavior also kept raising that absurd thought, and Frisk couldn’t shake it. She wasn’t sure if she was right or not, but she certainly wasn’t going to test it out.

That night, Frisk once again lay awake in the darkness and silence. She waited and listened as the hours slipped by. Then, once all she could hear was the sound of her own breathing, she slid out of bed and out of the house.

Her bare feet padded softly on the cold stone as she approached the looming black tree. The Ruins looked exactly the same in the dead of night as they’d looked the previous morning. Now Frisk just had to decide where to go.  
_I want to find a way out. Toriel is guarding the collapsed exit. Where else would I find an exit?_

Her mind immediately went to the great city she’d seen from the ledge. Surely, somewhere in there would be another exit. She just had to find it.

The Froggit that had been by the doorway was gone. As Frisk passed through, the awe-inspiring sight of the silent city loomed before her. Frisk didn’t pause to take in the sight. Her nerve might fail her if she did. Instead, she went immediately to the cliff face and began to make the climb down.

The climb lasted several minutes, longer than Frisk had ever climbed anything before. Every time she felt as though her limbs were going to give out, she would find a ledge wide enough for her to sit on and rest before continuing on.

Her fingers and toes were bleeding from the climb, but she kept going. Surely she was near the ground by now—

“Howdy!”

Frisk shrieked and lost her grip on the cliff face, falling about two feet before landing roughly on the stone floor of the ruins. She’d made it, but Flowey had beat her there. She scrambled to her feet and pulled the little toy knife from her pocket. Flowey laughed.

“Oh, don’t be such a crybaby. The drop wasn’t that far. Also, good news! I’m not interested in killing you right now anyway. Wow, what are you wearing? Did Toriel give that to you? Hah! That’s about right for her.”

Flowey was poking up through a crack in the stone floor a few feet away with a stupid grin on his face.

“You know, when you first fell down here I thought you were really dull! Little sack of skin and bones, you knew exactly what I was doing and you didn’t dodge. How boring can you get?”

He giggled again. “Then you did something I hadn’t seen before! Have you figured it out yet? ...No, doesn’t look like you have. Well, I won’t spoil it for you, I’ll let you figure it out yourself! I’ll have fun watching you the whole way.”

Flowey disappeared into the ground. Frisk waited a long moment before putting the fake knife back in her pocket. It probably wouldn’t have helped anyway, but it made her feel safe.

She followed the wall on her left, the direction she guessed the exit might be, and pondered what Flowey had said. Her suspicion was growing into a certainty, but it seemed no less absurd.

People didn’t come back to life. She _knew_ that.

She walked into the darkness as she wondered what this could mean if it was true. She left the courtyard under the ledge with the silence she had disturbed, the only sign of her passing the faint smears of blood in her footsteps.

The silent city was beautiful. It was not entirely dark; certain plants gave off enough glow to see the loving craftsmanship on the stone. The walls of the buildings rose higher than Frisk thought stone buildings could be built, and were decorated with pillars and carvings and statues. The trees and grass that grew up among the stones seemed as though they had been there from the beginning. The silence that had felt somber and sad from the overlook felt peaceful and comforting now that Frisk walked among the buildings.

A new cliff face rose up to meet her. She felt a little bit disappointed and a lot more sleepy. She entered a nearby building, walls lined with buttresses. She wasn’t sure what the building was for, but it didn’t matter. She wandered floors until she found a sofa against one of the walls. It sagged a bit and released a puff of dust as she curled up on it and fell asleep.

When she woke up, Frisk ate the omelette and pie left in her pockets before looking around. She was in a large room packed nearly end-to-end with empty shelves. Frisk wandered the aisles for a while. Her first thought was that it was some sort of grocery store, but the shelves seemed too close together. There was only enough space for maybe three of Frisk to walk shoulder-to-shoulder, and Frisk wasn’t very big. Toriel would have had quite a tight fit in here. The shelves didn’t have enough space between them for food, either. At the back of the building, Frisk found several tables attached to the ground clustered together, all missing their chairs. Her confusion grew. Was it a restaurant too? Then she had a flash of insight.

_Is this a library?_

The narrow rows made sense if all you needed to get was a book. The tables were for people to read at. Frisk hadn’t ever been to a library before, but it seemed to fit.

Frisk left the library with her curiosity satisfied. The only thing she was curious about now was why everyone had left. It looked as though someone had packed all the books, and maybe the chairs too, and moved them somewhere else. It didn’t look like there had been a fight. Frisk filed this away under mysteries to solve later.

Frisk continued following the new wall she’d reached. The scrapes on her feet had healed while she slept. She stopped leaving little smears of blood behind while she walked, though her heels were starting to hurt from the constant pounding against the stone.

The previous night, the silence had been comforting, but now it was beginning to feel oppressive. Frisk hummed little tunes as she walked to break the silence.

Without warning, Frisk’s soul was drawn from her chest. She fought back her surprise and sudden discomfort and looked around frantically. Her thoughts went immediately to Flowey, but the golden flower was nowhere to be seen.

_Human._

Frisk drew her knife. She couldn’t tell where the voice was coming from. She’d never heard a voice like it before.

_What brings a human to our city?_

No attacks were coming, but the bloodred heart remained stubbornly visible in her chest. Frisk lowered her toy and called into the dark city:

“I’m trying to find the way out. Can you help me?”

_The way out is the way you came._

“Can you help me find another exit?”

_No._

Frisk sighed. So much for that.

No matter how hard she looked, she wasn’t able to see the monster that spoke to her.

“...Where are you?” she asked.

_We are here._

That was entirely unhelpful.

“I can’t see you,” Frisk said again. “Where are you?”

The presence shifted, then spoke again. _We will send another to you._

Frisk’s soul faded back into her chest. She paused, unsettled, before returning her knife to her pocket. She walked on into the dark.

Before much time had passed, Frisk heard a soft, rhythmic clicking noise approaching her. She froze.

“Who’s there?” She called into the dark. She flinched as her soul was once more drawn from her chest.

_It is us. We are here._

Frisk drew her knife again as the source of the noise stepped into the faint blue glow on a nearby fungus. It was a giant ant. Unlike the ants she was familiar with, this one was standing on its two hind legs instead of all six. It was a bit taller than Frisk. The two legs it walked with were clearly reinforced more than usual, while the four other legs appeared to have claws in the shape of fingers. It had two bulbous eyes, two antennae as long as its arms, and two small mandibles over its mouth. Frisk was both repulsed and intrigued. She’d never seen anything like it.

“What are you?”

_We are the hive._

“Are you… Are you an ant?”

_We are not ants, but we share many characteristics with them._

Frisk lowered her knife. The ant didn’t seem interested in attacking her. Maybe drawing her soul out was just how they talked.

“You’re not here to fight me?”

_No._

Frisk took that with a grain of salt. “Why’re you here?”

_You are in our city, further than any of the others ever came. We wish to guide you away from our home._

Frisk thought about that for a moment. “There’s not an exit from the Ruins in your home, is there?”

_No._

“Well, that’s ok then.”

Frisk walked on, and the ant walked behind her. The padding of her soft feet mingled with the clicks of the ant’s carapaced ones, producing a rhythmic sound. Frisk was content to walk in silence for a while, but eventually her curiosity got the better of her.

“Why’re you down here all alone?” Frisk asked without turning around.

_Asgore ordered us._

Despite the still air, Frisk felt a chill. She stopped. Frisk remembered what Toriel had said. ‘They, Asgore, will kill you.’ Frisk swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry.

“Why did he make you live here?”

_We are the gatekeepers. We were to bring to him the humans that fell underground._

Frisk’s fear deepened. She turned to face the ant, taking a step away as she did so.

“Are you gunna to take me to him?”

_No. The other who came, Toriel, ordered us not to bring the humans to Asgore. We will respect her wishes until such a time as she no longer has authority over us._

Frisk wondered who Toriel was to command the gatekeepers to the Ruins. She turned and continued her search for an exit, while the ant clicked along behind her. Would this ant be able to tell her about the world outside the Ruins? Maybe so.

“What’s it like outside the Ruins?”

_We cannot say._

Frisk frowned. “Why not?”

_Asgore ordered us not to speak to humans of our history or our people._

“Don’t you like Toriel now?”

_We serve both._

Frisk sighed in frustration.

“Well, can you tell me why you’re living here?”

To Frisk’s great surprise, the ant replied, _Yes._

Frisk blinked. “Okay, tell me.”

There was a short pause, then the voice-that-was-not-a-voice spoke again.

_After monsters came to be underground, all monsters lived in what is now the Ruins. The other monsters were afraid of the hive, because we are not the same as they are. Then, the monsters left the Ruins. Asgore ordered us to stay and watch the entrance to the mountain, in case a human should fall. He erased us from history to preserve peace among monsters. This is why we may speak of this to you; we are not part of the monster history. Later he ordered us to bring humans to him, and not to aid them._

“...That’s it?” That wasn’t a very satisfying story.

_Did you want more?_

“Well… I guess. Why were the other monsters scared of you?” Limited as the conversation was, Frisk was learning more about monsters than she had in her entire time underground.

_They were afraid of us because we are not the same as they are._

“Yes, but how?” Frisk asked, exasperated at how literally the ant took her questions.

 _They saw us as different because—_ The voice paused and a series of images and concepts flashed through Frisk’s mind. The sun, blood, hopelessness, strength, death-by-choice, death-by-enemy, defeat.

_—we were too similar to humans._

That was not the answer that Frisk had expected. The ant seemed much more alien than Toriel did.

_That is because you are a human._

Frisk froze. She hadn’t asked the question yet. “How did you…”

_We speak to your soul, and your soul speaks back._

Frisk nodded, unsettled, and continued walking. “What did you mean by that?”

_You are a human, so you see humans the way a human would see humans, and you see us the way a human would see us. Monsters are not human, and see the hive and humans the way monsters do. These are not the same._

“Why would a monster think you’re similar to a human?”

The ant took its time in answering. Frisk was impatient, but forced down the urge to tell it to hurry up. After a few minutes of walking, the ant spoke up again.

_We were once attacked by humans. We fought back and killed many, using those we killed to fuel our attacks. This was seen by our fellow monsters as a particular affinity for violence that they associated with humans._

Frisk glanced back at the ant trailing behind her. It didn’t look particularly dangerous. Creepy and repulsive, yes, but against someone like her dad? She couldn’t see the little thing winning.

“You went to war with humans?”

_Yes, long ago._

“I’ve never heard of that before.” Frisk didn’t bother mentioning she didn’t know history very well.

_Humans record history. History can be lost, but we were there. We remember. It is for the hive to remember. There is little we do not remember._

Frisk glanced back again. “What do you not remember?”

_If we knew, then we would remember._

Frisk snorted. The ants had a sense of humor, even if it didn’t show on its face. To be fair, nothing showed on its face.

“Do you know what you might have forgotten about?”

_Yes._

Getting information out of this bug was unreasonably difficult. “Well, what’s that?”

_Some of it, we cannot tell you. There are two things that we can tell you._

“Tell me those.”

_The first is you._

Frisk blinked. “Me?”

_The behavior you have exhibited suggests events transpired that we do not have access to._

“You’ve been watching me?” Frisk didn’t know how she felt about that. Her feet were beginning to feel tired, so she walked into a nearby building in search of a place to sit.

_Yes. We observe all events underground to the best of our abilities._

“Oh.” Frisk found a chair and lifted herself into it, dangling her legs off the end. “What’s the other thing?”

_There is a certain yellow flower underground that we do not understand._

Frisk’s heart skipped a beat. She was glad she had sat. “A yellow… Flower?”

_Yes. You have spoken with it twice now. Once when you first fell, and a second time when you first entered our home._

Frisk curled her legs up against her chest. She didn’t like that flower. “What do you not… Remember about it?”

_We cannot know what we do not know._

Frisk sighed. “I mean, why do you think you forgot something?”

_He appeared one day, years ago, with no explanation. He has toyed with each of the fallen humans he met, but we do not know why. He is obviously powerful, but we do not understand the nature of his power. He knows of our existence and role, but we do not know how he acquired this information._

“Oh.” Flowey scared Frisk. She decided to keep walking.

A few moments later, Frisk saw something odd off in the distance: Pillars of stone that towered even above the buildings of the city. They were dotted with holes and seemed to be attached to both the floor and the ceiling of the cave. Compared to the angled, rigid structures around them, they appeared organic. Frisk was curious.

_That is our home. Do not attempt to approach. If you should choose to do so, we will return you to where you began._

Frisk suppressed her curiosity and nodded. The odd pair continued on, following the cliff face as they had been.

The city was far larger than she had planned for. Frisk couldn’t recall ever having walked this much before. And there was another problem.

Frisk had no water.

She was also out of food, but she figured that wasn’t as big a problem. She already knew she could go a couple days without eating, and she could probably eat snails or plants she found underground. Water was a bigger problem.

Frisk guessed time by how hungry she was. Around the time she felt hungry enough for lunch, and thirsty enough to be contemplating squeezing juice out of plants, she came across a stream trickling out of the cliff face with Echo Flowers growing around it.

Frisk let out a little cry of joy that echoed off the towers around her, ran to the stream, and plunged her face into the shallow water. She drank until she wasn’t thirsty anymore, then picked one of the flowers and went on her way. As she walked, she nibbled on the flower. It didn’t taste very good, but it filled her up. It was a big flower after all. She ate it down to the stem, then cast the remnants away. The entire time, the ant remained silent.

The buildings parted before her to reveal a courtyard with a tree in the middle of it. It reminded Frisk of the tree in front of Toriel’s home, or rather, how it should have been. This tree was vibrant and healthy, unlike Toriel’s.

Frisk decided to rest under the tree for a little while.

“Maybe I don’t like quiet after all,” she complained to the ant. “I can’t hear anyone living here, or any birds.”

The ant didn’t reply.

She missed the surface more than she thought she ever would.

_Toriel is searching for you._

Frisk sighed. “Well, please don’t tell her where I am.”

_We follow Toriel’s commands._

She felt rested enough. She stood to continue her journey…

Wait, where was she going again? Frisk stood a moment, confused. She was sure she had just been thinking about it. She turned slowly, looking for something to trigger her memory, but nothing came. She picked a random direction and walked. Before long, she realized she was having trouble walking in a straight line. Anxious, she put her hand against a building to guide her.

_What’s going on? What happened?_

Frisk’s legs gave out. Her head swam as she hit the stone tiles of the roadway. She forced herself to sit up against the wall of the building. Was she really this tired? She’d just rest a bit and wait until she felt better.

A few minutes later, she couldn’t feel her fingers or toes. Her anxiety turned to fear. She tried to stand and found she couldn’t move her legs.

_What? No! I made it so far! I wanted to… I wanted to…_

Frisk suddenly remembered.

_That’s right, I wanted to leave! I wanted to get back to the surface, I wanted to hear the birds again._

Frisk began to cry quietly to herself.

“Ah, you’re really bad at this aren’t you.” Flowey’s voice. Frisk turned her head to look at him. He was in a crack in the stone right next to her, with his stem bent at an angle to suggest he was sitting against the wall with her.

“I was curious to see how far you’d go before you gave up, but this works too. Man, of all the ways to go, eating an Echo Flower is probably the dumbest! Even little kids know not to eat them.”

Flowey glanced up at the silent ant standing above them both and hummed as he swayed back and forth. “Hey, have you figured it out yet? It’s kind of important now.”

“Yes,” said Frisk. She hardly believed it, but she understood.

“Hey, good job! You figured it out. You made a SAVE. Couldn’t tell ya how you managed to do that; you’ve been pretty ordinary the rest of the time. Apparently the only way you're able to scrape together enough Determination to LOAD is to die. Looks like you've got that part down, though!”

Flowey glanced up at the ant standing above the pair.

“I see you met my ant buddies. I had a lot of fun with them on some of my previous runs, but I’ve pretty much figured them out now. Normally I try not to let them know about the whole SAVEing thing, but I figure this part is gunna get reset pretty soon anyway, so no harm done.”

Flowey turned his smile back on Frisk.

“But hey! You know what this means? For me, I mean, not for you.”

Frisk shook her head.

“It means I get to play with you over and over and over again! And unlike the others, you’ll actually _remember_ it!” Flowey laughed the laugh of a child delighted at getting a new toy. “We’re going to have so much fun! See you soon!”

Flowey pulled back into the ground, leaving Frisk alone once more. Frisk’s heart hurt and she couldn’t breathe. She was going to die here, alone this time, and no one could help her.

Frisk wasn’t sure how long she sat there, unmoving, against the wall, but just as her lungs and vision finally failed her, she saw Toriel crouch down in front of her. She was yelling something, but Frisk couldn’t hear what it was.

She closed her eyes.

The world stuttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did a little editing to clarify exactly how LOADing works. My bad, I thought it was clearer than it actually was.


	5. "Just because she hurts me doesn't mean she doesn't love me."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk learns the truth

Frisk paused with her hand on the door. 

“Are you sure, my child?” Toriel’s voice.

“Yes.” Frisk was proud of how she kept her voice from shaking. She opened the door and walked inside. Everything went exactly the same way they had the first time. Toriel had baked a pie. She decided not to make snail pie yet. Here, let me show you to your room. Frisk stepped away before Toriel could try to touch her again.

She could actually do it.

She could come back from death.

Toriel left to save the pie from the oven again. Frisk entered the room in a daze and collapsed on the bed.

As she lay face down, she mentally recounted the past day. Or maybe calling it her previous attempt would be more accurate? She wasn’t sure. Whatever her last twenty-four or so hours were called.

She was now reasonably sure there was no exit from the Ruins in the city. She’d walked for what she assumed was a full day and hadn’t seen anything. She mentally scratched the city off her short list of escape routes.

The ants… She wasn’t sure what to think of them. They didn’t seem dangerous, but she had a feeling that was only because of Toriel. If not for their strange devotion to the goat monster, she had little doubt they would attack her immediately. They had watched her die without lifting a claw to stop her, after all. Despite this realization, Frisk was strangely calm.

_ They aren’t interested in hurting me. They’re just doing their job. It’s not personal, like Dad. _

_ So… What now? _

The only exit Frisk knew of was the one in the basement. Toriel was guarding it. Toriel had already proven she would rather kill Frisk than let her leave, and Frisk still didn’t understand exactly what she wanted. She suspected the part about wanting to keep her out of Asgore’s hands was actually true, but she still didn’t believe that was for Frisk’s sake. 

She probably wanted Frisk’s Determination.

Frisk fell asleep pondering ways to escape.

She woke refreshed and feeling as though she had a better handle on her situation than she’d had in the last few days. She changed into the green and yellow shirt and the brown pants Toriel had laid out for her last time, then ate part of the pie and stuffed the rest in her pants pocket. After double checking to make sure her little toy knife was still with her, Frisk exited the bedroom.

Frisk decided that there was no point in delaying. She immediately descended the stairs and headed for the exit. 

That plan didn’t work well. Toriel appeared behind her before she was even in sight of the door.

“There you are, my child! I think you should play upstairs instead.” Toriel reached out to take Frisk’s hand, and Frisk backed away. Toriel withdrew her hand.

“My apologies, child. I should have remembered. Please, come with me back upstairs.”

Toriel climbed the stairs, and Frisk trailed after her. Trying to sneak out wasn’t going to work. Maybe she should just try the direct approach.

Toriel sat back down in her armchair and opened “72 Uses for Snails.” Frisk decided there was no reason to delay.

“Toriel?”

Toriel looked up from her book. “Yes, my child?”   
“When can I leave?”

Toriel tensed slightly, but kept her smile in place. 

“What? This is your home now. Would you like to hear about the book I am reading?”

Frisk shook her head. “I don’t belong down here. I wanna go back to the surface.”

Toriel closed her book. “It is dangerous outside the Ruins, my child. You should stay. I will take care of you.”

Frisk decided not to contest that last point for now. That might make her  _ really _ angry. Instead she said, “It’s scary inside the Ruins too. What about the ants?”

Toriel’s smile disappeared. “How did you learn about the ants, my child?” Frisk pressed on without answering.

“They still like Asgore. They’ll still hurt me.”

“No, they will not,” Toriel reassured her. “They obey me now.”

“And the flower. He’s still here. He wants to play with me. He’ll hurt me too.”

“The flower? The flower that was tormenting you when you first fell down?”

Frisk nodded. “He’s following me. I wanna leave.”

“Do not worry, my child. I will protect you.”

“How do I exit the Ruins?”

Toriel was quiet for a long time. Then she said, “Wait here. There is something I must do.”

Toriel descended the stairs, and this time, Frisk followed her. Frisk’s heart was pounding. She knew she might be about to die again, or at least get very hurt. She began to second-guess herself. Maybe there was a way out that she didn’t know of yet. Maybe she should have checked back through the Ruins one more time before confronting Toriel. Too late now.

Toriel paused. “You wish to return ‘home,’ do you not? Ahead of us lies the end of the Ruins. A one-way exit to the rest of the underground. I am going to destroy it. No one will ever be able to leave again.”

Frisk nodded. She knew this already, but she had underestimated how fanatical Toriel truly was. She was prepared to spend her entire life trapped in the Ruins as well, with only the strange ant colony for company.

They walked on a little farther before Toriel spoke again.

“Every human that falls down here meets the same fate. I have seen it again and again. 

“They come.

“They leave.

“They die.

“You obstinate child. You insist upon leaving despite knowing what awaits you? Should you leave the Ruins, Asgore will kill you. I am only protecting you, do you understand? ...Go to your room.”

Frisk remained silent and continued following Toriel. It was now or never.

They reached the exit to the Ruins. There was no sign of the rubble that had blocked it last time Frisk had seen it. The massive stone double doors were emblazoned with the same crest that was on Toriel’s muumuu, she realized. She wondered what it meant.

“You want to leave so badly? You are just like the others. There is only one solution to this. Prove yourself. Prove to me you are strong enough to survive.”

Frisk’s soul was drawn from her chest. She made her choice. She’d seen it time and time again, both above the ground and below it. The world only had one rule.

Kill or be killed.

Frisk drew her toy knife as Toriel launched her attack. This time, Frisk had the open hallway to her back, and did not have to worry about the fire pooling behind her. She jumped back as Toriel unleashed wave after wave of fire. 

Frisk had learned how to dodge the strange patterns of magic during her trek through the Ruins, and, though Toriel’s attacks were more difficult, she was able to evade them without taking much damage. When an opening in Toriel’s attacks appeared, Frisk darted in as quickly as she could and swung the knife. 

It bounced off the goat monster. Of course it did, it was just a toy. But for some reason, even though Frisk should have done no damage, Toriel grunted as though pained. Frisk’s hopes rose as she scrambled away from Toriel’s next attack. Maybe she really could do it!

Wave of fire to her left, fireball on the right followed by a surging wall of flame, then another fireball on the left again. Frisk began to understand the pattern of Toriel’s attacks as she rolled and jumped through the flames. She wasn’t always successful in evading them, but after each attack she managed to get close enough to swing her tiny plastic blade again. After each swing, she was forced back by a wall of flame and began the dance all over again.

Still, even as Frisk landed blow after blow, she became frustrated that she was making no visible progress. Her arms and legs were beginning to flake and peel around multiple burn wounds. She was slowing down. Eventually, she stumbled and fell as Toriel unleashed an attack. 

As she watched the fire sail just over her head, her frustration turned to anger. For the first time, Frisk wanted to make someone else feel the way she did. She remembered all the times her dad had beaten her in a drunken or Determination-induced haze, all the times her mom had drained her dry and then demanded she go perform for people at school, all the times she’d been rented out like a toy for her dad’s friends to play with, and her rage grew. She wanted to lash out and hurt something, just for the sake of seeing it cry out. She wanted to cut something open, just to see what it looked like on the inside. She wanted to hurt someone as badly as she’d been hurt. Her eyes fell on Toriel.

Frisk jumped back to her feet, knife in hand, and smiled at Toriel. Toriel seemed taken aback and unleashed another wave of flames, this one not as strong as the others. Frisk didn’t bother dodging, enduring the heat and lunging for Toriel.

This time, her knife sank in up to the hilt. Frisk dragged it from the monster’s side to her stomach before pulling it out. She watched in satisfaction as Toriel fell on one knee, clutching her chest.

Frisk reveled in the feeling of power.

“Urgh…” muttered Toriel. Oh, she wasn’t dead yet. Frisk took a step back, ready for another attack. But nothing came.

“You are stronger than I thought. Listen to me, small one. If you go beyond this door, keep walking as far as you can. Eventually you will reach an exit.”

Toriel paused, her breathing labored. Frisk’s euphoria faded to the background, overshadowed by a sense of confusion. What was Toriel doing?

Toriel took a deep, ragged breath. “Asgore… Do not let Asgore take your soul. His plan cannot be allowed to succeed.”

She paused again. Frisk nodded as her confusion deepened into worry. This wasn’t how she expected this to go.

“Be good, won’t you… My… Child…”

Frisk’s worry turned to horror. She’d been wrong, oh no, no, she’d been wrong the whole time. Frisk dropped the knife and reached for Toriel, already crying, already saying she was sorry, she would fix this—

Toriel’s body dissolved into dust before Frisk’s hands reached her. The only thing that remained was a translucent grey soul, like her own but not, hovering where Toriel had knelt a moment before. As Frisk watched, a crack split it down the middle. The soul held together a few seconds longer before shattering in all directions, the fragments fading and disappearing as they flew.

Frisk knelt in the dust in shock. She’d been blind. Toriel had truly wanted to help her the entire time, and she hadn’t been able to see it until the very end.

“I’m sorry,” she said to no one in particular. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry…”

Frisk wept.

* * *

 

Frisk opened the drawer. Still no knives. She sighed. Despite the fact that her toy seemed to be effective, she would still be more comfortable with a real knife.

After getting herself under control again, Frisk had returned to Toriel’s house and ransacked it for supplies. She found a small bag and had filled it with an extra shirt like the one she was wearing, some food from the refrigerator, and Toriel’s diary. She wasn’t sure why she brought the diary, but she felt like it was important.

Frisk went back to the living room and stared around blankly. She felt as though she were missing something. The house was silent and dark. The fireplace had gone out. It was lonely.

Frisk tried not to think about why everything was silent. It wasn’t the first time something similar had happened, so she’d already had practice using that technique to cope. It worked well enough.

Reluctantly, Frisk descended the stairs again. She walked down the long hallway and stepped carefully around the neat pile of dust.

Frisk hated basements.

She pushed open the door that led out of the ruins. Of course, Flowey was waiting for her. He giggled.

“That was excellent, Frisk! I didn’t think you had it in you. And that face you made right before you killed Toriel was amazing! I haven’t seen an expression like that in a long time. I hope you like your choice. After all, it’s not like you could just go back and change it.” Flowey smirked. “Or maybe you just need some help?”

Frisk didn’t respond.

“Guess you took my lesson to heart. Down here, it’s kill or be killed. Except for you, right? You get to do both. That old hag tried to break the rules too, but she wasn’t like us, was she? She didn’t have our determination. She tried so hard to save you humans. But when it came down to it…”

Flowey’s face morphed to a rotting, gleeful mask. “SHE COULDN’T EVEN SAVE HERSELF. WHAT AN IDIOT!”

Flowey vanished.

Frisk pushed on.

The world outside the Ruins was bathed in white. The snow was cold against her bare feet. As far as Frisk could see, a narrow path was crowded in on either side by leafless trees. A sole bush was to her left. Frisk glanced at it—

Wait. Something glinted in the bush. A camera? Who would put a camera at the entrance to the Ruins? Frisk suddenly wondered why exactly Toriel had lived in the Ruins all that time, and whether or not she could have left if she wanted to.

She left the camera alone and continued down the path. A combination of the snow and the denseness of the forest blanketed sound, making it seem as though she were the only living thing for miles.

Frisk stepped over a stick that was too big to carry. What if there really was nobody around? What if she couldn’t get to a settlement before nightfall? Frisk didn’t look forward to spending the night out in the cold.

_ Crack! _

Frisk jumped and spun around. There was no one in sight, but the stick she’d passed had been shattered.

Well, that answered that question. Frisk reached into her pocket and felt the reassuring presence of her little knife before turning to continue down the path.

Footsteps. Frisk put her hand into her pocket and glanced over her shoulder again. Nothing. She felt like she was being hunted.

A chasm opened into the earth before her, spanned by a rickety wooden plank bridge. Frisk walked to the edge of the abyss and looked down, wondering how far it went.

Footsteps sounded behind her, far closer than last time. Frisk froze. The footsteps grew louder until they were right behind her, then stopped.

“Human. Don’t you know how to greet a new friend? Turn around and shake my hand.”

The voice was a deep male voice, cold as the snow under Frisk’s feet. Frisk turned slowly to face a skeleton with his hand outstretched, waiting for a handshake. She didn’t take his hand. After what felt like a long time to Frisk, the skeleton lowered his hand.

“not one for handshakes, huh? yeah that’s fair.” The skeleton’s voice changed as he stuck his hands in the sleeves of his blue jacket. It no longer sounded cold and dangerous, but instead sounded like the voice of a friendly jokester.

“hey, i’m sans. sans the skeleton. i’m actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. but... y’know…”

Sans paused and Frisk felt a chill that had little to do with the cold. She was right. The skeleton had been hunting her. She slipped her hand into her pocket and closed it around the knife again. Just in case. Sans noticed her move.

“heh. i don’t really care about capturing anybody. now my brother, papyrus, he’s a human hunting  _ fanatic _ .” 

Oh lovely. Frisk mentally added ‘fanatical human-hunting skeletons’ to her list of things to deal with.

“hey, actually, i think that’s him over there. i have an idea. go through this gate thingy. yeah, go right through. my bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone.”

Frisk glanced behind her. Sure enough, there was a fence across the bridge that completely failed to block passage. She wasn’t sure how comfortable she was turning her back on the laid-back skeleton or meeting his brother, but she didn’t have much of a choice. The two crossed the bridge and entered a small clearing with a stand and a lamp in it. Frisk wasn’t sure what the lamp was for.

“quick, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp.”

Frisk stood behind the lamp and, sure enough, it was just large enough to conceal her. Sans must have prepared this in advance.

How had he known?

A second skeleton entered the clearing from the other direction. Sans waved.

“sup, bro?”

“YOU KNOW WHAT’S “SUP,” BROTHER! IT’S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN’T RECALIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING!?”

The tall skeleton was incredibly high-energy. Frisk felt the urge to make herself even more invisible, just to escape his suffocating enthusiasm.

“staring at this lamp. it’s really cool. do you wanna look?”

Frisk felt her heart drop, but the tall skeleton refused and turned the other direction, stamping his foot.

“NO! I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE?! I WANT TO BE READY! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN! THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE!”

The skeleton struck a heroic pose. Or, something that he probably thought looked like a heroic pose, anyway.

“RESPECT, RECOGNITION… I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK TO, BE MY, “FRIEND?” I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING.”

Frisk, who up to this point had been listening to the exchange unsympathetically, felt a pang. She’d wanted friends, too, when she first went to school, but she’d had trouble fitting in with the other kids. Only one girl bothered to be her friend, and that hadn’t ended well. They had moved shortly after that. She felt like she understood Papyrus, even though she would never have taken such a flamboyant approach.

“hmm…” said Sans. “maybe this lamp will help you.” Papyrus returned to stamping his foot.

“SANS! YOU ARE NOT HELPING! YOU LAZYBONES! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY!”

“hey, take it easy. i’ve gotten a ton of work done today. a... skele-ton.”

As Papyrus groaned, Frisk nodded appreciatively at the absolutely terrible joke. She was beginning to warm up to the brothers. Well, to Papyrus, at least. She wasn’t quite as sure about Sans.

“SANS!”

“come on. you’re smiling.”

“I AM AND I HATE IT!” Papyrus seemed to deflate a bit. “WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME HAVE TO DO SO MUCH TO GET SOME RECOGNITION…”

“wow, sounds like you’re really working yourself down to the bone.”

Papyrus groaned again.

“I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES. AS FOR YOUR WORK? BUT A LITTLE MORE ‘BACKBONE’ INTO IT! NYEHEHEHEHEHE!”

After one last “HEH!” Papyrus set off down the trail. Sans waited a moment for him to be gone before calling.

“ok, you can come out now.”

Frisk emerged from behind the lamp and stood before Sans the skeleton. Frisk decided she didn’t like his smile. It never changed, but his eyes could show a whole range of different emotions. The disconnect unnerved her. Regardless, she swallowed her discomfort.

“Thank you, mister Sans.”

“heh, don’t mention it, kid. hey, you oughta get going. he might come back, and if he does, you’ll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes.” Sans winked to punctuate his comment. Frisk snorted.

“‘Kay. Bye, mister Sans.”

Frisk turned to leave, following the path Papyrus had taken. But before she’d gotten too far, Sans called out to her again. “actually, hey… hate to bother ya, but can you do me a favor?”

Frisk turned.

“i was thinking… my brother’s been kinda down lately. he’s never seen a human before. and seeing you might just make his day.”

“Will he try to take my soul?” Frisk asked. 

Sans’s eyes flickered a moment before he responded. “nah. don’t worry, he’s not dangerous. even if he tries to be.”

Frisk thought about it. She probably ought to decline, since Papyrus clearly was working for Asgore. But something about the tall, outspoken skeleton had resonated with Frisk, and she found herself wanting to agree.

“Maybe,” she compromised. Sans seemed to take it as a yes.

“thanks a million. i’ll be up ahead.” He left the way he’d come, leaving Frisk a bit confused as to how exactly he’d be up ahead.

Frisk carried on down the path, thinking about what she’d wandered into. An image of a pile of dust flashed into her mind. Frisk paused to fight the image, and the guilt, out of her mind. She’d failed miserably today. What’s worse, there was still a part of her mind that whispered that it wanted more. An itch she couldn’t shake no matter how hard she tried.

Frisk shook herself roughly, her resolve building. Now she’d met the skeleton brothers. Maybe this was her second chance! She resumed her trek through the snow, filled with determination.

_ This time, I’ll do it right. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There might be a bit of a pause coming up here because finals are around the corner, but I'll be back with more afterwards for sure. Thanks for sticking with the story! I really appreciate it.


	6. The Monster From The Capitol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk begins to learn the rules of the new world she's entered.

As she approached a fork in the path, Frisk’s soul was pulled from her chest again. Although it still dredged up unwanted memories, the nausea it normally caused was lessening. She slid her hand into her pocket and curled her fingers around the hilt of her little knife, glancing around in an attempt to find the source of the attack. Was it Papyrus?

The tall skeleton was nowhere to be found. Instead, a strange bird with blue and white coloring fluttered out from between the trees. It shuffled its feathers and looked at Frisk. Frisk took a step back.

“M-macaroni and ‘freeze!’”

A stream of magic emanated from the bird, forming what looked like streams of snow. Frisk dodged them easily. She wasn’t sure what the bird was trying to do. Was it making jokes?

The monster seemed a bit discouraged and tried again.

“‘Ice’ to meet you.”

This time, Frisk laughed politely as she dodged. These puns weren’t very good, even by her low standards, but they seemed important to the monster. It brightened.

“See!? Laughs! Dad was wrong!”

The monster settled down and Frisk’s soul faded, blending back into her chest. She sighed in relief. The monster didn’t seem to even realize it had been attacking her. It shuffled its feathers again.

“I don’t think ‘ice’ seen you around here before. My name’s Snowdrake. Are you go- Oh my god, ‘Snowdrake!’ ‘Snowflake!’”

The monster, Snowdrake, was freaking out. Frisk flinched. Was everyone around here so high-energy?

After cooling down, Snowdrake picked up where he’d left off.

“Anyway, I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you headed to Snowdin?”

Frisk clutched her arms to her chest and shivered. She didn’t know where Snowdin was, but she said yes anyway.

“‘Cool!’ I’ll walk some of the way with you. It’s just down this path.”

The monster waddled ahead as Frisk trailed behind. This one didn’t seem to realize she was a human. Sans had said Papyrus hadn’t ever seen a human. Maybe monsters like Sans and Toriel, who knew what humans looked like, were actually pretty rare. Maybe she could make it through the Underground without fighting, after all.

_ But that means I won’t feel good like that again. _

Frisk shook away the unwelcome thought.

“What brings you to this part of the Underground? ‘Snow’ way you’re from Snowdin, or I’d know you. Are you a tourist from the capital?”

Frisk nodded.

“I knew it! Lots of monsters that I haven’t seen live there. My family lives in Hotland now. I don’t like it very much. It’s not a very ‘cool’ place. My dad is a comedian at the hotel there.”

“What’s a comedian?” Frisk asked. Snowdrake glanced back.

“Someone who tells jokes, of course! Like me. I’m a great comedian!”

“Oh,” Frisk said. Her toes were starting to hurt. “You just visiting too?”

The monster was silent for a few steps, then answered, “Yep! Just chillin’ on my own for now.”

Frisk nodded. “Me too.”

Snowdrake glanced back at her again. “Really? You look pretty young to be all the way out here on your own. Are your parents in Snowdin?”

Frisk shook her head, wondering how she could explain it without giving herself away. Perhaps the best lie was one that looked like the truth.

“I ran ‘way.”

Frisk was a little concerned that might prompt more questions, but to her surprise, Snowdrake seemed happy.

“Hey, me too! What a coincidence, both of us ending up in Snowdin. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it?” They stopped, and Snowdrake turned to smile back at Frisk. She wasn’t really sure how to react. 

“I really like making people laugh,” Snowdrake continued. “Always wanted to grow up to be like my dad. Making people laugh. Seemed like a cool job. I wasn’t always the best at it, but my momma once told me, ‘Snow reason you can’t do it if you try!’ So that’s what I did. Making people laugh is great. You should try it sometime.”

He sighed and shuffled his feathers again before putting his smile back on.

“I used to be a pretty cool comedian! I mean, even more than I am now. Dad would let me come perform with him sometimes. But then when, when Mom fell down, I just needed to chill for a little while. Yeah! I was just out of practice. But Dad said I wouldn’t be able to make anyone laugh like this and wouldn’t let me come with him anymore, so I ran away.”

Snowdrake paused again. Frisk was having trouble understanding his situation. She could understand each of his sentences well enough, but she was having trouble understanding the life he described.

“Anyway! That’s enough snow on this parade. What about you?” Snowdrake asked. Uh oh. Frisk didn’t really have a story ready for him.

“Uhm. I didn’t want to go to school.” That was much further from the truth than her last lie.

“Really?” Snowdrake grinned. “Snow good running from school! You’ve gotta go learn about history and stuff.”

Frisk shook her head. “Don’t wanna pretend for teachers. Mom and Dad said not to talk to them about home. Got tired, so I left.” All but the last bit was true this time. Snowdrake looked a bit confused.

“What do you mean, they wouldn’t let you talk about home?” Frisk looked away and didn’t answer. Snowdrake shrugged.

“Alright, suit yourself. From here it’s a straight walk to Snowdin. I’m going to go see if I can find Ice Cap and practice a flurry of jokes on him. Bye!” Snowdrake smiled, pleased with himself, before fluttering off into the woods. Frisk watched him go before continuing down the path.

A few moments later, Frisk rounded a corner to see Sans and Papyrus having a conversation a little further down the path. She had apparently missed the beginning of a conversation.   
“SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE-” Papyrus interrupted himself when he happened to glance down the path. He turned away and whipped his brother around to face the same direction.

“SANS! OH MY GOD! IS THAT… A HUMAN!?”

The pair glanced over their shoulders back at Frisk. Frisk didn’t move. 

“uhhhh…” said Sans. “actually, i think that’s a rock.”

Frisk glanced around. Sure enough, there was a large rock on the path a little ways behind her. She giggled.

“OH,” said Papyrus, deflated. 

Sans winked at Frisk and said, “hey, what’s that in front of the rock?”

“OH MY GOD!” Papyrus said, immediately regaining all his enthusiasm. “IS… IS THAT A HUMAN?”

Frisk was pretty sure that last bit was supposed to be a whisper, but it was just as loud as his normal voice, so she wasn’t sure. She waved anyway.

“yes,” Sans ‘whispered’ back.

“OH MY GOD! SANS, I FINALLY DID IT! UNDYNE WILL… I’M GONNA… I’LL BE SO… POPULAR! POPULAR! POPULAR!”

Papyrus paused to clear his throat, giving Frisk a chance to catch her breath. She’d never met anyone quite as enthusiastic as him.

“HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! THEN… THEN!”

Frisk began to regret her decision. Papyrus paused a moment.

“...I’M NOT SURE WHAT’S NEXT.”

Oh. Maybe he really didn’t know?

“IN ANY CASE! CONTINUE… ONLY IF YOU DARE!” Cackling, the tall skeleton continued down the path. Frisk and Sans watched him go.

“well, that went well. don’t sweat it, kid. i’ll keep an eyesocket out for ya.” Sans winked again. It occurred to Frisk that winking was actually an incredibly strange thing for a skeleton to do, but decided not to dwell on it too much. 

“Mister Sans?” Frisk asked.

“yeah, kiddo?”

“Does Mister Papyrus know about Asgore?”

“what, that he’s collecting human souls?” Frisk nodded. 

“heh. nah. he’s so earnest that undyne hasn’t gotten around to telling him. maybe she never will. either way, you got nothin’ to worry about, kid. told you i’d keep an eyesocket out for ya, didn’t i?”

“You gunna tell him?”

“no need. let him have his fun. see you around, kid.” Sans turned and followed his brother, disappearing down the path. After a moment, Frisk followed him. Her feet were beginning to burn from the cold. She ignored it.

As she walked, Frisk wondered what Papyrus’s ignorance could mean. She’d assumed from what Toriel had said that the monsters outside the Ruins would all want to kill her, but that seemed to not be the case. Sans and Snowdrake seemed friendly enough, and Papyrus didn’t seem to really mean any harm. In fact, Sans seemed to be the only monster to realize she was a human. Well. Sans and Toriel.

Frisk scrubbed her dusty hands on her tattered shirt and carried on.

A small, lopsided shack came into view. It had a sign on it.

“You ob… serve? Ob-serve the well-crafted sen try station. Who could have built this, you… You… P- ponder.” The text went on for quite some way, but Frisk got the idea. This must be Papyrus’s sentry box. Frisk grinned and blew on her hands, shaking uncontrollably. She loved reading, even though it was hard. Not very far down the path was another sign, and a little further was another hut. Frisk wondered why they were so close together. It didn’t seem very efficient to do it that way. Maybe Papyrus had just built his without asking anyone first.

Frisk read the sign: Absolutely NO moving! That made no sense to her, so she kept walking. But when she passed the guard tower, she heard something stir. She froze. A sleepy dog head poked itself above the counter of the station.

“Did something move? Was it my imagination?” asked the head.

Hey, a talking Doggo. That’s pretty neat, right?   
“I can only see moving things,” the Doggo grumbled. “If something  _ was _ moving… for example, a human… I’ll make sure it never moves again!”

Oh. That was bad. Before Frisk could react, her soul began to glow from her chest, hovering near her heart like it always did. She stood as still as she could, vainly attempting to stop shivering. She could tell it didn’t entirely work. The Doggo narrowed his eyes and stared at her. Frisk couldn’t help but stare at his blade. It was blue and translucent. Doggo handled it as though it had no weight. Frisk reached into her pocket for her little knife-

“There you are!” Doggo lunged.

Frisk gasped as he thrust the blade straight through her chest, but she didn’t move. The blade was warm, and grew warmer in time with the shuddering of her body. The Doggo looked confused.

“I could have sworn…” He pulled back his strange blade. Frisk yanked her hand out of her pocket, now holding the knife, and stabbed the Doggo in the side before he could swing. He made a pitiful squeaking yelp as Frisk tore her knife from his body and ran down the path as fast as she could. She didn’t look back. Her soul faded back into her chest. She didn’t stop running.

“hey... hey, kid. hey, woah there, kid, time out!” An arm reached out to grab her. Frisk shrieked.

“hey, kid, calm down! what’s the matter with you, huh? about to run out onto the ice like that. not a good idea.” It was Sans. Not the Doggo. Not someone trying to take her soul. Right? Frisk sucked in air, trying to slow down her heartbeat.

“hey, it’s alright, you’re fine. breathe, kid. jeez, where are you goin’ so fast, huh?”

Sans waited for Frisk to catch her breath. It took her a minute before she straightened again.

“Sorry.”

“what are you apologising for? you get yourself in trouble?” Frisk shook her head.   
“hey, uh, you aren’t looking so hot. actually you’re looking pretty cold. you doing ok?”

“‘M f-fine.” Frisk shivered. She was not fine. But at least her feet didn’t hurt anymore. She actually couldn’t feel anything with her feet anymore. Sans looked at her a moment, clearly unconvinced, before shrugging.

“sure, knock yourself out. i won’t stop you. actually, i stopped by to give you a hint. my bro’s got an important special attack you should watch out for. you know about blue attacks, right?” Frisk nodded.

“don’t move and they won’t hurt you. hey, i even had a way to remember it prepared. imagine a stop sign.” Frisk imagined her school sign, except with the word “stop” on it.

“when you see a stop sign, you stop, right?” Frisk nodded again.

“stop signs are red, so imagine a blue stop sign instead. simple, right?” Frisk was confused. Her school sign wasn’t red.

“Mister S-sans?”

“what’s up, kid?”

“What do s-stop signs look like?”

“oh, uh, they’re hexagons. they’re red with a white outline, and they have ‘stop’ written on them in white. because they’re, y’know, stop signs.”

“Oh!” Frisk felt dumb. “T-that’s what they’re c-called…”   
“you didn’t know what stop signs were?” Frisk bristled.

“No! I knew what stop signs were! I just… Didn’t… Know what they were called…” She trailed off, mumbling.

“first time for everything. well, it’s that simple. when fighting, think about blue stop signs.”

“Okay. Bye, Mister Sans.” Frisk left Sans behind and continued down the path. Sans was right, there was ice just ahead. Frisk slipped and fell a couple times, and hit her head the second time. She clambered to her feet, covered in snow and rubbing her sore forehead ruefully, and finally made it across the lake. 

Papyrus and Sans were waiting for her across a square patch of thin snow. Wait, Sans? Wasn’t he... 

Frisk rubbed her hands in an attempt to stop shaking and glanced back the way she’d come. She couldn’t see Sans at the far end of the lake anymore. How did he do that?

“YOU’RE SO LAZY! YOU WERE NAPPING ALL NIGHT!”

“i think that’s called… sleeping.” Sans’ eyes shifted to suggest he was smiling. Of course, being a skeleton, he wasn’t able to stop smiling, but she imagined now he was smiling even more. With his eyes.

“EXCUSES, EXCUSES!”

Papyrus finally noticed Frisk. His expression brightened.

“OH-HO! THE HUMAN ARRIVES!”

Frisk smiled weakly and waved before returning to blowing on her hands. They hurt.

“IN ORDER TO STOP YOU, MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES! I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE QUITE SHOCKING! FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS THE INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE!”

Yes, that was definitely Frisk’s brand of terrible humor. Despite the cold and her painful hands and feet, Frisk gave a little grin. She was really starting to like Papyrus.

“WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE, THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP! SOUND LIKE FUN?”   
“N-not really.” Frisk admitted. Papyrus nodded.

“YES, THE AMOUNT OF FUN YOU WILL HAVE IS ACTUALLY RATHER SMALL, I THINK. OK, YOU CAN GO AHEAD NOW.”

A bit apprehensive, Frisk approached the edge of the patch in the snow. She reached her hand out over the patch.

_...Wait, the orb? _

Across the patch, the orb that Papyrus was holding zapped him. The skeleton seemed stunned.

“SANS! WHAT DID YOU DO?”   
“i think the human has to hold the orb.”

“OH, OKAY.” Papyrus crossed the patch in a specific pattern and tossed Frisk the orb before returning to his side. Papyrus didn’t seem to realize what he’d just done. Frisk walked in his footprints and crossed without any trouble.

“INCREDIBLE! YOU SLIPPERY SNAIL! YOU SOLVED IT SO EASILY… TOO EASILY!”

“M-mister Papyrus, you l-left footprints in the-”    
“HOWEVER!” Papyrus didn’t seem to notice or care that Frisk was saying something. “THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL NOT BE EASY! IT IS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, SANS! YOU WILL SURELY BE CONFOUNDED! I KNOW I AM!”

Papyrus cackled and ran enthusiastically down the path towards the next puzzle. Frisk and Sans watched him go.

“hey, thanks for playing along with my brother. he seems like he’s having fun. but uh… i don’t mean to pry or anything, but do you always shake that much?”

“I-I’m fine. I’m n-not even cold anymore.” It was true. Frisk was actually starting to feel better. She wasn’t nearly as cold as she’d been a few minutes ago, and the pain in her hands and feet was going away too.

“huh. you humans really are pretty strange, aren’t you?”

“Yep.” Frisk couldn’t really tell what Sans meant by that.

“well, i’ll see you up ahead.”

Frisk left Sans behind and wandered down the path again. She passed a strange monster with a cart. It didn’t attack her or try to talk to her, so she ignored it.

The path became a lot less clear after that and Frisk wandered around for a while, but she didn’t mind being a little lost. As she looked out over the Underground, she was having trouble remembering why she was so determined to leave. She could see the forest stretch out below her like a frozen, still paradise. The soft red glow from the far side of the Underground shone on the frozen branches of the trees, making the ice twinkle and glow. Past the forest and a river, she could see a city of stone, nestled against the side of the cavern. Above her head, glowing plants grew against the rocks, giving it the impression of a night sky. It was beautiful.

Frisk knew there was something wrong with it, but she couldn’t remember. She didn’t care. She felt like she was in a dream.

Oh, there were Sans and Papyrus. Frisk wandered over. Papyrus began to say something, and Sans said something back. Their voices were muted and distant. Frisk tried to pay attention, but gave up. She was feeling pretty sleepy, but when Sans pointed to a piece of paper on the ground between them. Frisk picked it up. She was pretty sure it had writing on it, but she couldn’t concentrate hard enough to read any of it. She dropped it again and yawned.

_ Mister Papyrus won’t mind if I take a nap, will he? _

Frisk was warm and comfortable again for the first time since entering the snowy forest. She felt warm, and her hands and feet didn’t hurt anymore. She curled up on the ground next to the paper, listening to the distant voices of the monsters as she fell asleep.

* * *

 

Frisk woke slowly, hands and feet throbbing dully. She lay in bed for a while, savoring the warmth of the covers. 

Wait. Bed? Covers? Frisk’s eyes snapped open and she sat up.

She was in a small, cozy room in a building that seemed to be primarily made of wood. There was a painting hung on the wall behind the head of the bed. A lamp was standing next to it. She was sitting on a small, low bed that was pushed against a wall to the right of the door. A low reading table stood by the bed, with a larger table against the opposite wall. Her backpack was on the large table, right next to her clothes. A pair of socks and shoes she didn’t recognize were also there. Frisk could hear snoring through the wall.

She had no idea where she was.

Frisk slid off the side of the bed. She was wearing an overly large white t-shirt that reached down below her knees. The polished wood was cool against her feet, but not harsh like the snow was. 

She lifted her sweater off of the table. The holes were gone. It looked as though it had never been torn in the first place.

After changing back into her clothes, Frisk checked the pockets of her pants. Her knife was gone. It figured. She’d have to do without. 

She pulled open the door and headed down the hall towards a stairwell. At the top of the stairs, she paused. She could hear voices.

“...Shouldn’t you take her straight to Asgore then?”

“papyrus wants to capture her himself. don’t worry, undyne already knows.”

It was Sans, and another person Frisk didn’t recognize.

“While I was washing her clothes, I found a knife in her pocket. Doggo came back injured today. That was her, wasn’t it?”

“probably, yeah, but to be fair, doggo probably jumped her. she won’t hurt anyone who isn’t trying to hurt her. i feel it in my bones.”

“First of all, that was terrible. Second, you ‘feel it in your bones?’ Sans, she’s a human. At the very least, you should have told me she was a human when you brought her here.”

“yeah, sorry about that. i didn’t think you’d let her stay if you knew.”

“Of course I wouldn’t have!”

“anyway... i’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell anyone. don’t want to start a panic. the royal guard can handle it on their own.”

“I’m telling Sarah.”

“...well, i guess i can’t stop you. let me tell her.”

“Alright. Bye, Sans. And be careful. She’s a human. They’re dangerous, even when they’re small.”

“no kidding.”

Frisk heard the sound of a door opening and closing again. She stepped away from the stairs. The monster whose home she had slept in knew she was a human, and wasn’t happy about it. Frisk decided to give her some time to settle down after talking to Sans and went back to her room. Plus, there was one thing she hadn’t done yet.

Frisk opened her backpack and pulled out Toriel’s diary.


	7. Dear Diary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk reads a diary. That is certainly the most important thing that happens in this chapter.

The diary was divided into sections and dated in a way Frisk didn’t understand. She turned to a page early on in the book and began reading.

“Today, the ants reported a disaster in one of their colonies. An accident occurred with one of the nearby human villages. Asgore has not told me of the details yet, but apparently two of the villagers died. The humans, fueled by grief and fear, retaliated against the colony. The ants had no defense. Asgore tells me that the humans killed the queen and destroyed the nursery. The colony is dead. My heart goes out to them. Asgore fears that this may spark a war. I feel the same. Tensions run high between humans and monsters even at the best of times, and recently a vocal member of the Great Mages has been speaking out against monsters.”

Frisk flipped ahead a few pages.

“Asgore confided in me this morning that he believes this is an unwinnable war. I agree. Our goal now is to save as many as we can. I do my best to keep up the hopes of the monsters, but there is only so much I can do. Monsters do not know how to fight. Only the ants have managed to rival the humans, but even they have been unable to win. Even the weakest human is terrifyingly strong, and among those they send to fight are some who are demons even among men. One wields a spear that bites like a beast; another has skin that cannot be pierced; another wields two blades that can not be blocked. Then there is the Seventh Mage, a man even stronger than these. Asgore tirelessly works to find peace, but the Seventh Mage opposes him. Despite his interference, Asgore believes that with the support of the other Great Mages, he is close to reaching an agreement to end the war.”

The diary felt easier to read than Frisk was used to, but the story it told was sobering. She skipped ahead some more.   
“The peace deal was accepted. We have been sent to a new land, and the mages have sealed us under a mountain. Precious few monsters have survived the war. Only one ant colony remains. Despite it all, we are rebuilding. Asgore and I remain confident that we will one day emerge from the mountain and live on the surface again.”

Frisk closed Toriel’s journal. She hadn’t really understood everything she’d read, but she got the important part. The monsters had gotten in trouble, then got locked under a mountain. They were as trapped as she had been.

She took the shoes from the dresser and slipped them on before leaving the room again. Waiting behind a counter at the bottom of the stairs was a large, pink, bunny monster. Frisk tried her best not to look suspicious as she walked past it towards the door. The monster didn’t speak, but her gaze never left Frisk.

She felt herself relax a little as the door closed behind her and took a moment to survey the world she’d stepped into. She was in the middle of a small, snow-covered town. Shops and houses with windows lit lined one side of a road filled with monsters going about their day. She saw a bunny monster with a… smaller bunny monster on a leash? Frisk decided not to question it. Past her, a bear monster was putting a colorful box under an ornately decorated tree. On one hand, Frisk was curious about this town and the monsters here. On the other hand, if the innkeeper was any indication, the longer she stayed here the worse it would be. She started down the road, trying not to draw attention to herself.   
“Yo!”

Frisk’s stealthy progress through the town lasted all of fifteen seconds before a small armless monster ran out from behind the decorated tree.

“You’re a kid too, right?”

“Uh, y-ye-”

“I can tell ‘cause you’re wearing a striped shirt.”

This monster clearly didn’t know she was human. “Grown-ups don’t wear striped shirts?”

The monster shrugged, which was quite a feat without arms. “I guess not. It’s just something kids wear. Hey, do you think that weird skeleton is a kid?”

“Which one?”

“The tall one with the weird armor.”

“I… I don’t know. I don’t think so.” Frisk really didn’t have much to go on except that Papyrus was really tall. 

“Hey, have you seen Snowdrake around anywhere? I want to take him to go see Undyne.”

“Think so. He was looking for Ice Cap.”

“Oh, he’s probably around here then. I’ll see you later!”

The monster started to leave and immediately faceplanted. Frisk moved to help it up, but it struggled to its feet and ran off. She watched it go, then turned and continued down the road.

As she left the last of the buildings behind, the air grew more and more thick with fog, until she couldn’t see past a few feet. It was completely silent, save for the crunch of snow under her feet.

A shadow appeared in front of her. She knew who it was even before it resolved into a distinct shape.

“HUMAN.”

Frisk stopped and waited.

“ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS. FEELINGS LIKE… THE JOY OF FINDING ANOTHER PASTA LOVER. THE ADMIRATION FOR ANOTHER’S PUZZLE-SOLVING SKILLS… EVEN IF WE DIDN’T GET TO ALL OF THEM. THE DESIRE TO HAVE A COOL, SMART PERSON THINK YOU ARE COOL. THESE FEELINGS…”

Frisk was confused. Who was he talking about? Himself?

“MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW!”

Ah, yes. Yes he was.

“I CAN HARDLY IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE TO FEEL THAT WAY. AFTER ALL, I AM VERY GREAT. I DON’T EVER WONDER WHAT HAVING LOTS OF FRIENDS IS LIKE.”

Frisk had long since decided that she didn’t need friends, but Papyrus seemed to really want one. She wondered if this was his way of making friends without hurting his pride.

“I PITY YOU, LONELY HUMAN… WORRY NOT! YOU SHALL BE LONELY NO LONGER! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE YOUR…”

Papyrus stopped himself suddenly. He seemed to be choking on his words. Frisk waited for him to continue, but Papyrus turned away. Frisk’s heart sank.

“NO… NO, THIS IS ALL WRONG! I CAN’T BE YOUR FRIEND! YOU ARE A HUMAN! I MUST CAPTURE YOU!”

Papyrus turned back to face Frisk. “THEN I CAN FULFIL MY LIFELONG DREAM! POWERFUL! POPULAR! PRESTIGIOUS! THAT’S PAPYRUS! THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD!”

With a sickening lurch, Frisk’s soul took definition in her chest once again. She crouched, ready to dodge Papyrus’s attacks.

She needn’t have worried. Papyrus’s attacks were so easy to dodge she wondered if he was even trying to hit her. 

“M-mister Papyrus, I like you. Can’t we be f-”

“WHAT!? FL-FLIRTING!?”

_ What? _

What?

“What?” Frisk asked.

“SO YOU FINALLY REVEAL YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS!”

“N-no, I-”

“W-WELL! I’M A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS!”

“W-wh- ...No, I, I-” Frisk stammered. She didn’t like where this was going. And redeeming qualities? Well, she could make determination, but something told her that Papyrus didn’t care about that.

“I, um, I don’t have any redeeming qualities...” Frisk stumbled over her words.

“OH NO! THAT HUMILITY… IT REMINDS ME OF MYSELF! YOU’RE MEETING ALL MY STANDARDS! LET’S DATE L-LATER! AFTER I CAPTURE YOU!”

Frisk’s heart jumped. She  _ hated _ dates. “N-no, mister Papyrus, I don’t-”

But before she could finish, Papyrus was already launching his next attack. This one was ever so slightly more difficult. As she weaved in and out between the bones, she could hear Papyrus considering what to do on his date. Frisk  _ hated _ dates. She couldn’t understand what just happened, but she didn’t have time to consider it.

“SO, YOU WON’T FIGHT? THEN LET’S SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE MY FABLED ‘BLUE ATTACK!’”

Frisk thought she had this one figured out. Between her encounter with the guard dog and Sans’s lecture, she guessed that blue attacks could only hit her if she was moving. As a wave of light blue bones approached, Frisk suppressed her reflexes as best she could and didn’t move. Sure enough, the bones passed through her without so much as a tingle. 

After the last bone passed, Frisk allowed herself a sigh of relief… that immediately turned to a yelp of surprise as she felt herself forced to the ground. She looked up just in time for a single small white bone to bounce off her forehead.

“Ow.” Frisk said, more out of surprise than pain. What was that?

“YOU’RE BLUE NOW. THAT’S MY ATTACK! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!”

Frisk forced herself back to her feet and looked at her soul. Instead of being the color of dried blood like it normally was, her soul now radiated a deep blue. Sure enough, she was blue. She’d never seen anything quite like it before.

Suddenly, Papyrus’s attacks became much more difficult to avoid. He was saying something about their date or a special attack or popularity, but Frisk was too busy struggling against his magic to pay very close attention.

Frisk spent what felt like the next few minutes trying to dodge bones while weighing twice as much as normal. By the end, she was bruised all over and completely exhausted. Papyrus’s last bone caught her ankle and dumped her in the snow. She didn’t want to get up.

“BEHOLD! MY SPECIAL ATTACK!”

Wait  _ what _ ? That’s right, Papyrus had mentioned a special attack, hadn’t he? Frisk hauled herself back to her feet. 

Instead of being greeted with some strange new attack, she saw a small dog chewing on a bone.

“WHAT THE HECK! THAT’S MY SPECIAL ATTACK! HEY! YOU STUPID DOG! STOP MUNCHING ON THAT BONE!”

The dog glanced over at Papyrus and began dragging the bone away.

“HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! COME BACK HERE WITH MY SPECIAL ATTACK!”

But the dog refused. Papyrus brushed off the loss of his special attack pretty quickly.

“OH WELL. I’LL JUST USE A REALLY COOL REGULAR ATTACK INSTEAD!”

It really was a cool attack, up to a point. Papyrus was clever with how he used his bones, moving them up and down and forming them into words. She even managed to dodge all of the first bones. Then something seemed to go wrong. A tidal wave of bones tore through the ground and rushed toward her. Frisk froze. There was nowhere to go. It occurred to Frisk that maybe she had seriously underestimated Papyrus. Frisk braced herself, closed her eyes, and jumped as hard as she could.

...She didn’t fall. She opened her eyes. The bones were still there, tearing through the earth, and a giant bone was still heading towards her, but she wasn’t falling.

Was Papyrus carrying her?

Frisk landed gently on the other side of the attack and stepped over one last slow-moving bone.

“WELL! IT’S CLEAR… YOU CAN’T! DEFEAT ME!” Papyrus was panting. The last attack must have exhausted him. Or maybe Frisk was hard to carry with magic.

“Y-YEAH! I CAN SEE YOU SHAKING IN YOUR BOOTS!”

“Mister Papyrus, I don’t wear boots.”

“EVERYONE IS WEARING BOOTS ON THE INSIDE, AND I CAN SEE YOURS SHAKING!”

“Huh?”   
“THEREFORE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ELECT TO GRANT YOU PITY! I WILL SPARE YOU, HUMAN! NOW’S YOUR CHANCE TO ACCEPT MY MERCY!”

Frisk sat down with a sigh. She was exhausted. “Ok.”

“NYOO HOO HOO… I CAN’T EVEN STOP SOMEONE AS WEAK AS YOU… UNDYNE’S GOING TO BE DISAPPOINTED IN ME. I’LL NEVER JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD… AND MY FRIEND QUANTITY WILL REMAIN STAGNANT!”

Frisk rubbed her eyes. “Sorry you can’t catch me, Mister Papyrus. But I want to go outside again.”

Papyrus brightened for a moment. “WELL THEN, HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HEREBY GRANT YOU PERMISSION TO PASS THROUGH! AND I’LL GIVE YOU DIRECTIONS TO THE SURFACE. CONTINUE FORWARD UNTIL YOU REACH THE END OF THE CAVERN. THEN, WHEN YOU REACH THE CAPITAL, CROSS THE BARRIER. THAT’S THE MAGICAL SEAL TRAPPING US ALL UNDERGROUND. ANYTHING CAN ENTER, BUT NOTHING CAN EXIT. EXCEPT SOMEONE WITH A POWERFUL SOUL! LIKE YOU! THAT’S WHY THE KING WANTS TO ACQUIRE A HUMAN. HE WANTS TO OPEN THE BARRIER WITH SOUL POWER. THEN US MONSTERS CAN RETURN TO THE SURFACE!”

“Oh!” Frisk said. So Asgore really  _ did _ want her Determination, but not for the reason she’d thought. The king was just trying to free his people.

“OH, I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU. TO REACH THE SURFACE, YOU WILL HAVE TO PASS THROUGH THE KING’S CASTLE.”

Frisk’s heart sank.

“THE KING OF ALL MONSTERS… HE IS... WELL… A BIG FUZZY PUSHOVER! EVERYBODY LOVES THAT GUY.”

This new image of Asgore was confusing Frisk.

“I AM CERTAIN IF YOU JUST SAY, ‘EXCUSE ME, MR. DREEMURR, CAN I PLEASE GO HOME?’ HE’LL GUIDE YOU RIGHT TO THE BARRIER HIMSELF!”

Frisk nodded. “Thank you, mister Papyrus. Maybe we can be friends.”

“REALLY!? YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH ME!? W-WELL THEN… I GUESS I CAN MAKE AN ALLOWANCE FOR YOU!”

Frisk grinned. Papyrus’s enthusiasm was infectious.

“WOWEE! WE HAVEN’T EVEN HAD OUR FIRST DATE YET AND I’VE ALREADY MANAGED TO HIT THE FRIEND ZONE! WHO KNEW THAT ALL I NEEDED TO DO TO MAKE FRIENDS WAS TO GIVE PEOPLE AWFUL PUZZLES AND THEN FIGHT THEM? YOU TAUGHT ME A LOT, HUMAN.”

Frisk kept her grin on her face as much as she could. She’d forgotten about Papyrus’s date. “You’re welcome, mister Papyrus.”

“ANYWAY! I’LL BE AT HOME BEING A COOL FRIEND! FEEL FREE TO COME BY AND HAVE THAT DATE!”

Frisk felt a little sick. She nodded. Papyrus bounced back down the path towards Snowdin. Frisk stood and headed the way Papyrus had indicated without looking back. She was filled with determination.

* * *

 

As she left Snowdin, the snow and ice on the ground gave way to smooth stone. Frisk also noticed a low roar that was steadily growing louder. She’d never heard anything like it before, and didn’t know what she expected.

But a skeleton in a guard station was certainly not it.

“what? haven’t you seen a guy with two jobs before?”

“No.”

“well you’re in luck, because two jobs means twice as many legally-required breaks. i’m going to grillby’s. wanna come?”

Frisk’s stomach rumbled right on cue. Sans chuckled.

“well, if you insist, i’ll pry myself away from my work.”

Sans headed down the path, away from Snowdin. “over here, i know a shortcut.”

Frisk followed, wondering how going away from Snowdin would get them there faster- and they were there. Oh, wait, what?

“fast shortcut, huh? hey, everyone.”

Apparently Sans was a regular at Grillby’s. The other patrons each greeted him by name. Frisk also spotted the guard dog she’d stabbed in the crowd. She hid behind Sans. He didn’t seem to care.

“here, get comfy.” Sans offered Frisk a barstool. The stool made a noise when she sat on it.

“whoops, watch where you sit. sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats.”

Frisk didn’t get it.

The pair ordered burgers from the bartender made of fire. The monster nodded and went into the back room. Sans turned his smile on Frisk.

“so, what do you think of my brother.”

“I think… I think he’s a cool guy.”

“of course he’s cool. you’d be cool too if you wore that outfit every day. he’d only take that thing off if he absolutely had to. oh well. at least he washes it. and by that i mean he wears it in the shower.”

The bartender returned with their burgers. Frisk tried to pour some ketchup on her burger, but the lid fell off and dumped it all over her burger.

“whoops. eh, forgeddaboudit. you can have…”

But Frisk had already wiped the ketchup off of the burger and was busy scarfing it down.

“woah there, don’t make yourself sick.”

Frisk nodded. She still had her own ketchup-soaked burger in her mouth and was already eying Sans’s.

“you sure do have an appetite, don’t you? here, you can have mine. i’m not hungry anyway.”

Frisk reached over and pulled his plate in front of herself. She managed to get a question out as she ate.

“Mister Sans, did you take me to that room when I fell asleep?”

“huh? oh right. yeah, i brought you to the snowed inn. it was papyrus who suggested it though. he got a little worried when you collapsed and asked me to get you patched up. turns out, bon is pretty good at patching people up. truth be told, i wasn’t going to bother — i mean you know it wasn’t that big of a deal — but papyrus asked me to.” 

“Thanks, mister Sans.”   
“appreciate it kiddo, but you should thank papyrus.” Sans’s permanent smile reached his eyes. “he was worried he wouldn’t be able to capture you. i mean, he still didn’t capture you, of course. there’s not a bad bone in his body. didn’t i tell ya, kid?”

Frisk nodded, even though she still wasn’t comfortable with the whole ‘date’ thing.

“anyway, cool or not, you gotta agree he tries real hard. like how he keeps trying to be a part of the royal guard. one day, he went to the house of the head of the royal guard and begged her to let him be in it. of course, she shut the door on him because it was midnight. but the next day, she woke up and saw him still waiting there, so she decided to give him some warrior training. it’s, uh, still a work in progress.”

He paused again. Frisk stopped eating and looked up at the skeleton.

“...yeah, i wanted to ask you something.”

The world froze. Frisk tensed.

_ Magic. _

“have you ever heard of a talking flower?”

Frisk’s blood ran cold.

“...Yes.” she murmured.

“you’ve heard about them then. the echo flowers. they’re all over the marsh.”

Frisk relaxed a little. Thank goodness, he wasn’t talking about Flowey.

“say something to them, and they’ll repeat it over and over.”

“What’s wrong?”

“well, papyrus told me something interesting the other day. sometimes, when no one else is around, a flower appears and whispers things to him. flattery... advice… encouragement…

“predictions. 

“weird, huh? someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on him.”

“No.”

“what?”

Frisk was trembling. She hadn’t seen the flower in some time, so she thought maybe she’d escaped him. Clearly she was mistaken.

“Not an Echo Flower. I saw him too.”

“you saw ‘him?’”

“He tried to kill me. He- he’s scary. He’ll hurt mister Papyrus.”

“what does ‘he’ look like?”   
“He’s a small yellow flower.”   
“alright kiddo, i’ll keep an eye socket out.”

Frisk couldn’t tell if Sans was taking her seriously or not. Whatever the case, the rest of the world snapped back into motions. Everyone went on with what they had been doing as if nothing had happened. Sans slid off his barstool. “man, i can’t believe i let ya pull me away from work for that long. oh, by the way, i’m flat broke. can you foot the bill? it’s just ten thousand gold.”

Frisk was pretty sure she didn’t have any money either. She certainly didn’t have that much.

“just kidding. grillby, put it on my tab.”

Sans left the restaurant. Frisk hastily stuffed what was left of Sans’s burger in her backpack and followed him, but by the time she made it to the door, he was already gone.

“Oh, hey again!” It was the little armless monster. Snowdrake was with him.

“Hi,” said Frisk. “Did you find Ice Cap?”

“No.” Snowdrake ruffled his wings in a way that made Frisk think of a shrug. “Oh well, he’ll just miss this time.”

“Miss what?”

“We’re going to go see Undyne! You can come if you want.” The little monster was bouncing in excitement.

“Maybe later.” Frisk had heard the name from Papyrus before. She wasn’t sure who Undyne was, but had a bad feeling about it.

“Alright! I’ll see you later!” Snowdrake and the little monster scrambled off down the path, the same direction Frisk needed to go. She waited until she couldn’t see them anymore before carrying on herself. She also made a mental note to avoid them if she saw them later on.

The next barrier to her progress came shortly afterward. Papyrus was actually standing outside what Frisk assumed was his house, looking out at the road. Her heart sank and she crossed to the opposite side of the road, but didn’t slow her pace. As she passed, she looked down at her feet and turned her head away. At first, she thought she’d made it.

“SO YOU CAME BACK TO HAVE A DATE WITH ME!”   
But she did not. Frisk looked up with dread at the skeleton now standing beside her.

“YOU MUST BE REALLY SERIOUS ABOUT THIS… I’LL HAVE TO TAKE YOU SOMEPLACE REALLY SPECIAL. A PLACE I LIKE TO SPEND A LOT OF TIME!”

“T-that’s OK mister Papyrus, you don’t need to…”

“NONSENSE! NOTHING BUT THE BEST FOR MY SPECIAL FRIEND! FOLLOW ME!”

Frisk trailed after Papyrus, not really paying attention to where they were going.

“MY HOUSE!”

Papyrus entered the house. Frisk sighed. If she tried to run, Papyrus would just catch her and bring her back anyway. Maybe she would be able to find some way to leave before things got too far.

Frisk took a deep breath and stepped across the threshold.


	8. What do I want, anyway?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Frisk realizes she's getting determination but not much else.

The first thing Frisk noticed was how clean the house was. The blue-and-purple carpet didn’t have trash scattered across it, and the walls and ceiling seemed to be in good repair.

“Mister Papyrus, is your house new?”

“WELL, IT’S NEWER THAN MOST. BUT SANS AND I HAVE BEEN LIVING HERE FOR A FEW YEARS!”

“Why’s it so clean?”

“I DO MY BEST, BUT MY LAZY BROTHER WON’T PICK UP HIS STUFF!”

Frisk was confused, but decided not to question it much further. Instead, since Papyrus didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry, she decided to look around the house. On a table against the wall, a rock rested on a plate. It was covered in colorful pellets.

“What is this?”

“THAT’S MY BROTHER’S PET ROCK! HE ALWAYS FORGETS TO FEED IT, SO I HAVE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY.”

Frisk was fascinated.

“What do rocks eat?”

“I FEED IT SPRINKLES!”

“Wow. I didn’t know a rock could be a pet.”

“NEITHER DID I, UNTIL SANS BROUGHT IT HOME. BUT NOW IT’S PART OF OUR FAMILY!”

Frisk went over to the TV. It was the biggest one she’d ever seen in a house. Of course, she hadn’t been in many houses. Mostly just this one and her own. She fumbled with the buttons on the TV until she found the one to turn it on.

“OOH, IT’S MY FAVORITE GAME-SHOW!”

It was just a series of colorful bars on the screen.

“WHAT! IT’S USUALLY BETTER THAN THIS! THIS IS JUST A BAD EPISODE, DON’T JUDGE ME!” Papyrus seemed nervous.

“‘S okay mister Papyrus.”

Frisk wandered off to the kitchen. Papyrus had the tallest sink she’d ever seen. She thought it might even be taller than Papyrus.

“Wow…”

“IMPRESSED?” Papyrus asked. Frisk nodded solemnly.

“I INCREASED THE HEIGHT OF MY SINK! NOW I CAN FIT EVEN MORE BONES UNDER IT! TAKE A LOOKSY!”

Papyrus opened the door under the sink. A small dog lay in the entrance chewing a bone.

“WHAT!?”

The dog froze. Frisk and Papyrus stared at the dog. Suddenly it bolted between the two and ran for the door.

“CATCH THAT MEDDLING CANINE!”

Frisk tried, but the dog was long gone before she even crossed the room.

“CURSES!” Papyrus sighed. “THAT DOG WILL NEVER LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Frisk went back to the sink and stared into the black void left by the dog.

“Does this go somewhere?” She asked.

“I DON’T THINK SO.”

She was curious. She stepped into the sink.

“FRISK?”

“Be right back,” she called, and slipped into the darkness.

* * *

 

Frisk stepped out of the sink. That was… An experience. She wasn’t sure how to describe it.

“ARE YOU OKAY? YOU WERE IN THERE FOR QUITE SOME TIME!”

“...I-I’m okay.”

Frisk decided she’d had enough of looking around. She went upstairs and picked the door that didn’t have fire coming out from under it. That was probably Papyrus’s room.

“OH, THAT’S MY ROOM! IF YOU’RE FINISHED LOOKING AROUND, WE COULD GO IN AND, UM, DO WHATEVER PEOPLE DO WHEN THEY DATE?”

With any luck, Frisk could get away before that happened. She opened the door.

Papyrus’s room looked much like the rest of the house: tidy and safe. There was a computer in one corner, a bed in another. Against a wall sat a table covered in little figures of people, and against another was a bookshelf.

“WELL, ARE YOU READY TO BEGIN OUR DATE?”

Frisk nodded apprehensively, staying near the door.

“OK THEN! DATING: START!”

Her soul lurched from her chest. She doubled over in an attempt to suppress her nausea and sudden fear. This was going to make it much harder to run.

“I’VE NEVER ACTUALLY DONE THIS BEFORE,” Papyrus admitted. “BUT DON’T WORRY! YOU CAN’T SPELL ‘PREPARED’ WITHOUT SEVERAL LETTERS FROM MY NAME! I SNAGGED AN OFFICIAL DATING RULEBOOK FROM THE LIBRARY!”

He whipped out the booklet and began to scan through it.

“STEP ONE… BRING UP YOUR MAGICAL ‘DATING HUD.’”

He paused and looked up at Frisk. “DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT IS?”

None of us had any clue. Papyrus shrugged and skipped to the next step.

“STEP TWO: ASK THEM OUT ON A DATE. AHEM… I, PAPYRUS, WILL GO OUT ON A DATE WITH YOU!”

“We’re already on a date, mister Papyrus.”

“I GUESS WE ARE! THAT MEANS IT’S TIME FOR PART THREE!”

Frisk began to relax. None of her other dates had gone this way. Well, to be fair, her dad had been there for all her other dates, but usually by now they’d at least be on the bed.

“STEP THREE: PUT ON NICE CLOTHES TO SHOW YOU CARE! ...WAIT A SECOND.”

Papyrus narrowed his eyes.

“THAT RIBBON IN YOUR HAIR… YOU’RE WEARING CLOTHING RIGHT NOW!”

Frisk felt her head. Sure enough, the ribbon she’d found in the Ruins was still in her hair. She’d forgotten all about it.

“YOU’VE WANTED TO DATE ME FROM THE VERY BEGINNING!?”

“No, I-”

Papyrus gasped. “YOU PLANNED IT ALL! BUT… I ALWAYS WEAR MY SPECIAL CLOTHES UNDER MY REGULAR CLOTHES! I HAVE NEVER BEEN BESTED AT DATING, AND NEVER WILL! BEHOLD!”

Papyrus darted away and came back wearing… Something.

“NYEH! WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MY SECRET STYLE?”

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Frisk answered truthfully.

“NO! A GENUINE COMPLIMENT!” She wasn’t sure that counted, but she decided to humor him.

“HOWEVER… YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND THE HIDDEN POWER OF THIS OUTFIT! SO WHAT YOU JUST SAID WAS INVALID! THIS DATE WON’T ESCALATE ANY FURTHER UNLESS YOU FIND MY SECRET!”

It was the hat. Frisk could see something under it.

“Your hat, mister Papyrus!”

“NYEH! SO FAST! W-WELL THEN… YOU FOUND MY SECRET! I SUPPOSE I HAVE NO CHOICE… IT’S A PRESENT J-JUST FOR YOU!”

Frisk opened the present. There was a plate of what may have once been spaghetti.

“IT’S SPAGHETTI! BUT NOT JUST ANY OL’ PASTA! THIS IS AN ARTISAN’S WORK! SILKEN SPAGHETTI, FINELY AGED IN AN OAKEN CASK, THEN COOKED BY ME! MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS! HUMAN, IT’S TIME TO END THIS!”

Frisk took a bite. The taste was indes- Oh, she swallowed. And took another bite. I suppose it’s not the worst thing she’s had. It’s cooked, at least. That doesn’t make it good spaghetti.

“WOWEE! LOOK AT YOU GO! YOU MUST REALLY LOVE MY COOKING! AND BY EXTENSION, ME! MAYBE EVEN MORE THAN I DO!” Papyrus paused and looked crestfallen. Frisk looked up from her impromptu meal with a wad of something that was probably edible hanging from her mouth.

“HUMAN… IT’S CLEAR NOW… YOU’RE MADLY IN LOVE WITH ME.”

Frisk cocked her head, the wad of something still hanging from her mouth. She was pretty sure she was _not_ in love with Papyrus, and wasn’t sure where he was going with this.

“EVERYTHING YOU DO. EVERYTHING YOU SAY.”

Frisk started listening to him with only one ear and went back to eating the dubiously edible substance fixed to the plate.

“IT’S ALL BEEN FOR MY SAKE. HUMAN. I WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY, TOO. IT’S TIME FOR ME TO EXPRESS MY FEELINGS. IT’S TIME THAT I TOLD YOU. I, PAPYRUS… I… UM… BOY, IS IT HOT IN HERE OR IS IT JUST ME?”

Frisk shrugged as she peeled more of the starchy substance from the plate. This might be killing her.

“...OH SHOOT. HUMAN I, I’M SORRY. I DON’T LIKE YOU THE WAY YOU LIKE ME. ROMANTICALLY, I MEAN. I TRIED VERY HARD TO! I THOUGHT THAT BECAUSE YOU FLIRTED WITH ME THAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO GO ON A DATE WITH YOU. THEN, ON THE DATE, FEELINGS WOULD BLOSSOM FORTH! I WOULD BE ABLE TO MATCH YOUR PASSION FOR ME! BUT ALAS, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE FAI-”

Papyrus was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass.

“Howdy! Sorry to interrupt!”

Frisk’s blood ran cold. Flowey was resting on the computer desk, vines and roots exposed. There was only one reason he’d appear in front of her while someone else could see.

She was about to die.

“OH, HELLO FLOWEY! WE WERE JUST FINISHING OUR DATE!”

She stood and bolted to the door, dropping Papyrus’s meal to the floor. The spaghetti bounced hard but stayed firmly attached to the plate. A vine whipped across the room and forced the door shut.

“Don’t worry buddy, you’ll be back to it in no time. I just need to load real quick.”

“Papyrus, help!” Frisk screamed as she struggled against the door.

“WHAT IS IT?”

Frisk whirled around, looking for a different way out-

_Crunch._

Oh. Frisk looked down at her chest. A vine wriggled where it was embedded in her heart. She sat down.

“FLOWEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Papyrus sounded horrified. “THE HUMAN IS A FRIEND!”

“Ah, what a pain.” Flowey sounded annoyed, like someone had broken one of his toys. A ring of Flowey’s pellets appeared around Papyrus. He summoned his bones, but it was too late. The pellets struck him and turned him to dust.

“Papyrus!” Frisk choked out.

“Don’t worry, this one doesn’t count.” Flowey seemed oddly apologetic. “Here, I’ll make it quick.”

A vine rushed towards Frisk’s head-

Frisk lurched and slipped in the snow, falling on her face. She was alive again.

“I forgot to tell you the rules earlier. No worries, I can tell you now and then you can do that part over again.”

It was Flowey, picking right back up where he’d left off. Frisk stood and wiped her tears, ready to run again.

“I’ve only got two rules for you. The first one is don’t talk to anyone about me. That would make things inconvenient for me and I’d rather not deal with it. This second rule is for you, so pay attention.”

For the first time Frisk could recall, Flowey dropped his flippant tone. He sounded dead serious.

“Don’t ever let Sans find out _anything_ about you. It’s a good idea in general to keep it a secret, but especially don’t let Sans find out what you can do.”

“Why not?” Frisk asked. She had a hard time imagining the goofy, lazy skeleton caring whether or not she could SAVE.

“Believe me, those brothers are stronger than they look, and Sans isn’t afraid of going all out. He’s cost me more than my fair share of resets, and I’d rather this run not end early. This is all very fresh, and I want to see how it turns out. But enough about that! We haven’t talked in awhile, Frisk. There’s always been people in my way. It’s good to finally get you by yourself. Hey, don’t be trying to leave now that we’re finally having a conversation!”

Flowey wrapped a vine firmly around Frisk’s ankle as she attempted to increase the distance between them.

“That’s better. Y’know Frisk, after how happy you were to kill Toriel, I really thought you’d be a lot more excited to fight Papyrus, but you really didn’t get into it. What are you, a crybaby now?”

“How did you know about that? Did you make me feel that way? Was it magic?” Frisk suddenly felt hopeful. It was Flowey’s fault. Of course it was.

“No, of course not, silly! I want to see how you do things on your own the first time. Looked to me like you just had a great time killing the old goat.” Flowey hummed and bounced side to side on his stalk while Frisk’s rising hopes crashed back down.

“Oh.”

“I bet it made you feel strong, didn’t it? It didn’t actually make you any stronger, but monsters are pretty sensitive to killing intent. That’s why I’m surprised Papyrus lived. I thought you’d jump on him once he started giving you a challenge.”

“No.” _But I should have._ Frisk shook her head adamantly. She didn’t want to do that to anyone else, ever again. Flowey mimed a shrug.

“Whatever makes you happy. Speaking of that, there’s just one more thing I’m curious about. What do you want?”

“Huh?” Frisk didn’t understand the question.

“What are you trying to do, I mean. The other couple humans that fell down here had their own reasons for trying to get to the end, but I haven’t been able to figure out yours.”

“Oh. I, um, want to get out.”

“And then what?”

“A-and then…” Frisk stammered to a halt. She hadn’t thought that far ahead. “A-and then find my mom and dad?”

“Hummm.” Flowey said, smiling. “Your parents don’t seem like very good people. You’re going to go back to them?”

“N-no.”

“Then what are you going to do if you escape?”

“I’m going to, um, g-going to find my mom and d-”

“You just said you weren’t going to do that.”

“I- I-”

“You don’t know what you want?” Flowey seemed curious. “Are you just trying to escape for the sake of trying to escape?”

“I don’t want to be trapped.”

“So you just want to leave because you’ve decided you want to leave? Well, at least you’re getting more determined. Well then, I look forward to seeing the rest of your adventure!”

The vine unwrapped itself from Frisk’s leg as Flowey slipped back beneath the snow. She took a deep, shuddering breath and continued on her way.

* * *

 

Frisk went through the motions of Sans’s dinner and Papyrus’s date in a daze, this time taking care not to mention Flowey’s existence. Flowey had to be lying. He must have used his magic on her - _I’d do it again._ \- to make her kill Toriel. It was the only explanation. It wasn’t her fault after all. Of course it wasn’t. Frisk pushed the topic out of her mind.

Instead, she focused on deciding what she would do when she escaped. Flowey was right to say that Frisk had no plan. She was simply trying to escape because she hated being trapped, and that was it. So what _would_ she do?

She waved to Sans as she passed his station again, the roar of the waterfall growing louder. The only thing she could think of was to try to find her parents again. Flowey was probably right; from all she’d seen Underground, the way her parents treated her didn’t seem so normal after all. But even though they hurt her, and mom’s machine made her tired all the time, and her dad loaned her out to his friends, they were still her parents. In spite of everything, she loved them.

Even though they might be dead.

The thought struck her as she crossed a shallow fjord. This was the first time she’d connected Toriel’s death and what had happened at her home. The addicts that were trying to steal her away had had guns. She knew they did, because she heard them go off as she walked away. Her chest felt tight.

“H- HI UNDYNE! I’M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT…”

That sounded like Papyrus. Frisk looked around. She had been on autopilot and had entered a clump of grass without really realizing it. She parted the stalks in the direction of Papyrus’s voice.

There he was, face shrouded in shadow, talking to a tall, heavily armored monster. She couldn’t hear the monster’s voice.

“UH, REGARDING THAT HUMAN I CALLED YOU ABOUT EARLIER… HUH? DID I FIGHT THEM? Y-YES! OF COURSE I DID! I FOUGHT THEM VALIANTLY! WHAT? D-DID I CAPTURE THEM? W-W-WELL- NO. I TRIED VERY HARD, UNDYNE, BUT IN THE END, I FAILED.

“W-WHAT? YOU’RE GOING TO TAKE THE HUMAN’S SOUL YOURSELF? BUT UNDYNE, YOU DON’T H-HAVE TO DESTROY THEM! YOU SEE-”

The armored monster, Undyne, made a gesture. Papyrus fell silent. Frisk was sure her heart was beating loudly enough for them to hear across the rippling water.

“I UNDERSTAND. I’LL HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN.” And with that, Papyrus left. Frisk released the grass and took a step back into the shadow-

Undyne spun to face Frisk’s hiding place. She froze, not even breathing. Undyne stepped forward and summoned a huge, glowing spear, scanning Frisk’s bank. She didn’t take another breath until the warrior stepped back and faded into the darkness. Frisk stepped out from the tall grass with a sigh of relief.

“Yo! Did you see the way she was staring at you?”

Frisk yelped and jumped away. The little monster kid laughed.

“Were you that excited?”

The grass rustled again as Snowdrake emerged.

“Oh, hello again. Did you decide to come see Undyne too?”

Frisk regained her composure and nodded.

“That was awesome! Man, I’m so jealous!” The armless monster laughed. “What’d you do to get her attention? C’mon guys! Let’s go watch her beat up some bad guys!”

The monster scampered off, tripping once or twice.

“There’s snow mad guys for her to bead up, MK!” Snowdrake called after him. The little monster payed no attention. Snowdrake sighed.

“You didn’t come just to be n _ice_ to MK, did you?”

“No.” Frisk admitted. “Was just going this way.”

“Where are you going? Back home?”

“Guess so.”

“I thought you ran away like me.”

“Yes.”

“Why are you going back then?”

“Guess I don’t know where else to go.” Frisk answered.

“Well… Okay. I’m going to go _ketchup_ with MK.” Snowdrake grinned and left. Frisk wondered if maybe Sans had been talking to him.

She turned for one more look at the opposite bank. So that was Undyne. It seemed she’d finally have to fight someone who really wanted to take her soul. Frisk was afraid.

And filled with determination.

Frisk’s phone rang in the next room. She jumped. She had forgotten what it sounded like, since Toriel never called her anymore. She opened her phone.

“Hello?”

“HELLO, HUMAN!”

“Papyrus? You know my number?”

“I DO NOW!”

“Oh.”

“IT WAS EASY! I JUST DIALED EACH NUMBER SEQUENTIALLY UNTIL I GOT YOURS! (000) 000-0012! SO. WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?”

“What?”

“I’M ASKING FOR A FRIEND. SHE THOUGHT SHE SAW YOU WEARING A FADED RIBBON.” Undyne.

“I’m not wearing that.” Frisk said as she took off her ribbon and stuck it in her pocket.

“GOT IT! YOU’RE MY FRIEND, SO I TRUST YOU 100 PERCENT! HAVE A NICE DAY!” Papyrus hung up. Frisk continued on her way, listening to the echo flowers whisper of the monsters’ wish to be free.

A series of plaques rested on a wall not much further along. Frisk stopped to read them. The writing was faded and rough, making it even harder to read than it normally was, but Frisk took the time to read it anyway.

_The War of Humans and Monsters._

_Why did the humans attack? Indeed, it seemed that they had nothing to fear. Humans are unbelievably strong. It would take the soul of nearly every monster just to equal the power of a single human SOUL. But humans have one weakness. Ironically, it is the strength of their SOUL. Its power allows it to persist outside the human body, even after death. If a monster defeats a human, they can take its SOUL. A monster with a human SOUL. A horrible beast with unfathomable power._

The last panel on the wall was a drawing of something Frisk assumed was a monster with a human soul. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, but something about it scared her. That monster could have won the war. Frisk knew that the monsters had killed humans before, the ants had told her that. Why didn’t they capture a human soul? Frisk pondered it as she walked, but didn’t have the time to figure it out. As she crossed an exposed walkway, a glowing blue spear flew across her path and buried itself in the wood in front of her.

Undyne.

Frisk turned to face the ironclad monster, and for a moment, the world held its breath. The water between them gurgled as it slowly flowed toward the distant roar of the waterfall. Undyne stared back at her, flanked by a series of rocky pillars towering to the ceiling. The faint light from the glowing mushrooms and shining stones was just bright enough to illuminate its faceplate and glint off of its shoulders. No birds sang, and no crickets chirped. In that silence, the executioner raised her arm. With an impossibly loud hum, a ring of spears formed around her and pointed themselves at Frisk. Their glow illuminated the cave still more, highlighting the damp surfaces of the pillars and reflecting in the drops of water falling from the ceiling of the cave far above. For just a moment, Frisk did not feel afraid. For just a moment, Frisk could see everything.

“Beautiful.” She whispered.

The world began to breathe again. Undyne released her crown of spears. Frisk ran.

The spears fell like hail as she dashed for the far end of the walkway. Despite being weighed down by her armor, Undyne seemed to have no trouble keeping pace with Frisk. She rolled, changed her pace and direction abruptly, and tried to make herself as small a target as possible, but she knew it was impossible to dodge them all. Sure enough, she felt a tugging sensation; first on her left arm, then on her hip. Frisk stumbled but did not fall, continuing to run in silence.

The walkway ended in another clump of grass. Frisk dove headlong into the strands and crawled until she felt she was hidden well enough.

Undyne’s footsteps didn’t stop. They grew louder and louder, until Frisk was sure the monster was towering above her.

_Crunch._ The sound of Undyne’s gauntleted hand grasping something. The child held her breath. A silence… Followed by the sound of Undyne walking away. Frisk remembered to breathe again.

She left the grass stalks and this time managed not to jump as MK burst from the fronds, followed more slowly by Snowdrake.

“Yo! Did you see that!? Undyne just! _Touched me!_ I’m never washing my face ever again! Man, are you unlucky. If you’d just been standing a little bit to the left-” MK broke off, staring at her arm.

“Yo, what’s that red stuff?”

“Huh? Oh. Nothing.” Frisk examined the cut on her arm. It still didn’t hurt, and neither did the one on her hip, but it was starting to bleed. Out of curiosity, she pushed at the surrounding flesh with her finger. It didn’t look very deep. She’d probably be fine.

She glanced back up at the pair. MK had already moved on entirely, reassuring Frisk that she’d see Undyne again and have her once-in-a-lifetime chance to be grabbed by the face, but Snowdrake didn’t seem convinced by her dismissal of her injuries.

“Are you sure you’re OK? I’ve never seen a monster leaking red.”

“‘S fine, it’s normal.” She reassured him.

“Yeah man, they said it’s nothing. And she’s smiling, too. Come on, let’s go try to catch up with Undyne!” MK bounded up and down impatiently. Snowdrake sighed.

“Fine, let’ _snow_.” Snowdrake shook his head. MK lunged forward, immediately faceplanted, and ran off again. Snowdrake followed at a more measured pace.

Frisk felt strange. She didn’t want to admit it, but despite her terror, a growing part of her couldn’t wait to fight Undyne. She was certainly no less determined than before.

She took a step after the pair, but the cut on her hip flared in protest.

“Ah!” Frisk stumbled.

_Okay, now it hurts._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So, yeah, I'm alive. Things have been busy around where I am, what with college starting back up and all. It's not that I'm on hiatus, it's just that I have the release schedule, of, uh... OK I don't have a release schedule anymore. Sorry. But I'm still working on this! I swear!
> 
> In other news, by my guesses we should be a little past the halfway point of Child of the Machine now. I fully plan to make it to the end, and even beyond. I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I am!


	9. A Monster and a Song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look on my works, ye humans, and despair!

Sans was in the next room. How did he do that? Frisk never saw him pass.

“hey kid. you uh, took your ribbon out.”  
“Oh.” Frisk remembered her ribbon again, finally. She took it out of her pocket and tied it in her hair. In reality, she just tangled it up in her hair until it stuck, but that’s not how she saw it. Sans nodded.

“pretty.”

Frisk wasn’t entirely sure how to react to that, so she just fidgeted.

“you should probably put something on that.”

Sans was looking at her hip. Frisk pinched her clothes together over the cut and turned to hide it from him better. Of course he noticed.

“‘S nothing.” she lied.

“ok. hey, i’m thinking about getting into the telescope business. you know what a telescope is, kid?”  
Frisk nodded. Wow, he had dropped the issue really quickly.

“well this is a special one. it’s normally 50000 gold to use this premium telescope, but… since i know you, you can use it for free. howzabout it?”

“Okay.” Frisk had no idea how much money that was. Probably a lot. Frisk wasn’t sure exactly how many of the shiny coins she had, but it wasn’t that many. She looked through the telescope, but all she saw was red. Sans noticed her look.

“huh? you aren’t satisfied? don’t worry, i’ll give you a full refund.” Sans winked.

“Re-fund?.”  
“just a joke, kiddo, don’t worry about it.”

Frisk shrugged and carried on her way. She followed a quiet, winding path through the marsh, avoiding the slow-moving streams. The water had a strange glow to it that grew brighter as it rippled against the blue lily pads and Echo Flowers that grew up through the streams. It was nice, as long as she didn’t eat the flowers.

Her phone rang.

“Mister Pa-?”  
“HELLO! THIS IS PAPYRUS!”

It was Papyrus.

“REMEMBER WHEN I ASKED YOU ABOUT CLOTHES?”

Frisk nodded, forgetting that Papyrus couldn’t see her.

“WELL, THE FRIEND WHO WANTED TO KNOW, HER OPINION OF YOU IS VERY… MURDERY. BUT I BET YOU KNEW THAT ALREADY! AND BECAUSE YOU KNEW THAT, I KNEW WHEN YOU SAID, “I AM NOT WEARING A FADED RIBBON,” IT WAS REALLY A SECRET CODE! YOU REALLY MEANT, “I ACTUALLY AM WEARING A FADED RIBBON!””

Frisk sighed. Papyrus was going to get her killed. Papyrus had almost already gotten her killed.

“YOU WERE TRYING TO PROTECT YOURSELF WHILE MAKING IT SO I DIDN’T HAVE TO LIE! I PICKED UP ON THIS, AND FOLLOWED YOUR PLAN. I TOLD HER YOU WERE NOT WEARING A FADED RIBBON!”  
“Mister P-”

“SHE WON’T RECOGNIZE YOU NOW! AND I DIDN’T HAVE TO BETRAY EITHER OF YOU! SINCE I JUST TOLD HER WHAT YOU SAID! WOWIE! YOU’RE SUCH A SMART COOKIE! I REALLY CAN BE FRIENDS WITH EVERYONE!”

Papyrus hung up. Frisk hung her head. Too late to do anything about it now. She returned her phone to her pocket and carried on.

Straight into a dead end. Greeting her were three walls, tall grass, ballet shoes in the tall grass, glowing mushrooms-

Ballet shoes?

Frisk fished the pair out of the grass. She knew that they were shoes, but nothing more specific than that. They looked pretty, though. She took off her shoes and put them in her backpack, replacing them with the ballet shoes.

She felt prettier already.

After wandering the maze-like swamp, she began to rethink her decision to wear the ballet shoes. They were much prettier than her brown shoes, but they didn’t provide nearly as much protection for her feet. The giant tentacle monster didn’t help things. It seemed that every monster under the mountain thought Undyne was the best thing ever. None of them knew that Undyne planned to make things better by killing Frisk and taking her soul. Frisk didn’t have the will to tell Onionsan that, though. The aquatic monster seemed so excited that she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. Instead, she moved on.

She passed a lonely piano in an empty room, she sang with a monster who dreamed of fame, she flexed with a seahorse. All the while, Undyne occupied her mind. Frisk stopped in front of a stone statue and watched as water streamed over it from a hole in the ceiling above. It was an oddly sad statue. It looked like it was once a representation of a monster, but anything that could have identified it had been washed away long ago. It cradled something in its lap, some machine that Frisk didn’t recognize.

Despite having done it before, Frisk was afraid of dying. Dying was scary. It hurt. It made her feel cold and even more alone. And there was no guarantee that she would come back to life again just because she did last time.

_I don’t wanna disappear,_ she thought as she grabbed an umbrella from a container in the next room. She didn’t want to be like that statue, abandoned somewhere no one would find her until no one remembered her name.

“Yo, you got an umbrella? Awesome!” A familiar voice interrupted her thoughts. MK joined her under her umbrella.

“Hey, long time snow see. You get new shoes?” Snowdrake appeared on Frisk’s other side.

“Y-yeah,” she stammered. The monsters were much closer to her than she was comfortable with, but she forced down her increasing agitation and pressed onward.

“Man, Undyne is so cool! She beats up the bad guys and _never_ loses. If I was a human, I’d wet the bed every night knowing she was going to beat me up!”

“What do you think humans look like? I’ve never seen one. There’s snow drawings either, even in the librarby.”  
“I bet they’re big and scary! But not as big as Undyne.”

“I think maybe they’re…”

Frisk wasn’t listening. She stopped, and the monster duo continued talking for a moment before noticing.

“Whatcha doin’?” MK asked.

“...Forgot something.” Frisk turned around and headed back the other way.

“Hey, Undyne isn’t over there! We checked… Well, we’ll just wait here I guess.”

She returned to the statue. It didn’t seem right to leave it all alone and wet. Careful not to mess up whatever it was at the base of the statue, Frisk wedged her umbrella into its arms. The soft pitter-patter changed to a low drumming as the water began to stream from the umbrella. As the last of the water rolled away from the machine, a tune began to play.

...It was his.

Frisk stayed a while and listened to the music mingling with the drumming of the water.

“Water you up to?” Snowdrake had followed her. Frisk didn’t turn to look.

“The statue was sad.”

“Oh.”

“Who’s it s’posed to be?”

She heard feathers rustle as Snowdrake shook his head. “Dunno. I feel like I recognize the tune, but I can’t remember from where.”

After a pause, Snowdrake asked, “What do you think humans look like?”

“Strong ‘nd angry. They scare me.” Frisk admitted.

“I’m not sure. Maybe they’re like us. Maybe they’re even scared of us.” Snowdrake hadn’t made a bad pun in a while. Frisk turned to look at him and found Snowdrake staring right back. To the extent that she could read his expression, he seemed serious. Then he shrugged, ruffling his feathers.

“Snow way to know for sure, I guess! No one’s ever seen a human. Hey, MK’s still standing out under the waterfall rain. Let’s go keep looking for Undyne.” The moment passed. Snowdrake turned and headed back towards MK, with Frisk trailing behind. There had been something in the monster’s eyes that unsettled Frisk, but she wasn’t sure what.

MK was waiting for them below a ledge that blocked their path. “Yo, this ledge is way too steep for me.”

In reality the ledge wasn’t very high, but without arms MK didn’t have any way to climb over it. The monster shrugged, or at least imitated a shrug as best he could with no shoulders.

“Oh well. You two go ahead, I’ll catch up. Here, I’ll help you up.”

Frisk nodded and clambered over MK and onto the ledge. The cut on her hip throbbed in protest, but she ignored it. _Can’t let them know._

“You not going, Snowdrake?” MK asked. Snowdrake shook his head.

“I’ll give you a hand finding another way around. Don’t worry about us, we’ll catch up.”  
Frisk watched as the pair headed back down the path, MK singing Undyne’s praises while Snowdrake chipped in bad puns about the winter weather and arms. Frisk shrugged to herself. It was probably more convenient for her to be on her own, anyway.

The path ahead was more closed in than it had been, with more plaques on the wall.

_The humans, afraid of our power, declared war on us. They attacked suddenly, and without mercy. In the end, it could hardly be called a war. United, the humans were too powerful, and us monsters, too weak. Not a single SOUL was taken, and countless monsters were turned to dust._

Frisk moved on, thinking. It didn’t make sense. The ants said they had killed humans, but this history seemed to be saying not a single human was killed during the war. Something wasn’t right. Something wasn’t —

Something was on the ground in front of her.

While she thought, Frisk had wandered out onto some sort of bridge or pier. Her puzzling over the different accounts of the war were interrupted by a blue circle that hummed to life just in front of her. It looked something like a shadow, if shadows were blue and glowed. Then a second one circle appeared, this time behind her. Then a third. Then several more at once, surrounding her. Frisk’s heart sank. Even before the spears lanced up from the bright shadows, she knew she was in trouble.

_Undyne._

Frisk ran. She couldn’t actually see Undyne, but she could hear it. The crashing of armor betrayed the monster’s movements. The pier began to branch off in several directions, but Frisk didn’t have time to deliberate over the right path. Didn’t matter, so long as she kept avoiding the spectral spears. Left, right, jump forward, stop, run again — faster and faster the spears came, until they stopped appearing altogether.

Frisk took a moment to catch her breath and look around. She must have made it further than Undyne could reach; not that it mattered. She’d hit a dead end. Nowhere to go but back. Frisk turned back along the path only for Undyne to block the way. She drew her toy knife, pathetic in the face of the huge monster’s full plate armor, and got ready to fight. The pain in her hip was all but forgotten now, fear and excitement mingling to wash it away.

Undyne made the first move, summoning a wave of spears to impale her. Frisk scrambled back along the pier, intending to charge once the spears passed, but quickly realized she’d made a mistake. The spears were never intended to hit her in the first place. Instead of flashing harmlessly by, the magical lances tore through the pier between Undyne and herself. The structure buckled and collapsed under Frisk’s feet, abandoning her to the dark below.

* * *

 

Where am I? There was a pit in the cave — I fell, didn’t I? How far was it? It hurts, it hurts. I can’t move. No one would ever look for me here, if anyone was looking for me to begin with. I guess I’m going to die in a hole in this mountain.

...No, someone is here. I can hear a voice. Someone is welcoming me, taking care of me. Someone comforting me. I don’t understand. Is this what I was looking for? I never would have thought that I would find it here. I’m sure I’ll find a way to ruin this.

“Chara, huh? That’s a nice name. My name is...”

Somehow, even after all this time,  I can still hear his song.

* * *

 

Frisk opened her eyes. By itself this was nothing surprising; opening is what eyes do, after all. But she had been pretty sure that she was going to die from the fall, and judging from her surroundings, that had not happened. In fact, she didn’t even feel too bad. She sat up, shaking petals out of her hair. She’d landed in a patch of golden flowers somehow thriving in the debris-filled water. She must be somewhere in the depths of Waterfall.

Frisk began to wade through the water, pushing the occasional bit of trash out of the way. It looked like everything that was thrown away in the Underground eventually made its way here, piling up along the walls until it was eventually swept into the abyss. Clinging to the cave wall, Frisk inched her way towards the edge of the waterfall. Hand over hand she went, until she stood braced against the very edge and peered out into the darkness. To either side, the cavern wall stretched on as far as she could see. She thought she could hear other waterfalls off in the distance, but they remained out of her view. She looked down, straining her eyes to see as far into the abyss as she could, but the depths of the pit remained shrouded in darkness. Unlike the darkness in the Ruins that seemed mysterious and tantalizing, this darkness felt hungry and oppressive. It claimed the trash that spilled over the falls, swallowing it without a trace. Whatever sound they may have made against the cliff face was lost in the roar of the water. Oddly enough, she didn’t feel much of the fear of heights that she might normally have, maybe because she couldn’t actually see the bottom.

_I could let go._ The thought popped into her head unbidden. It was an oddly enticing thought. All she had to do would be to release her hold on the wall, and the current would sweep her over the edge like the rest of the trash around her. The tug was soothing. She wondered idly if her strange resurrection ability would work if she fell. Perhaps this was not the time to find out. Frisk shook off the hypnotic reverie that she had been lulled into by the drone of the water and the silent darkness beyond.

Frisk stepped back from the ledge and carried on, filled with a melancholy determination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap he's still alive. Yup, that's right, I'm back, more or less. The meds are good stuff. Sorry this chapter is a little shorter than usual. I'll work on getting the next one up as soon as I can.
> 
> Also I'm thinking of moving the publishing day to Saturday because my Fridays are really busy now.


End file.
